Much of life is about making plans. Whether it’s planning a wedding, organizing a birthday party, or preparing for a vacation, we often live by checklists and timelines. We plan home repairs, financial goals, and weekly schedules. Even in the church, our staff meets regularly to plan worship services. Lately a lot of preparation has gone into Vacation Bible School, which begins next week! Planning is part of how we bring order to life. But as much as we plan, the Bible reminds us that God is the ultimate planner.
God doesn’t just respond to the events of our lives—He orchestrates them. Psalm 139:16 says, “All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.” That’s a powerful truth: God knows the whole story of your life before a single chapter unfolds. He has a plan for the world, from creation to new creation, and He has a plan for your individual journey, too.
The account of Jesus’ ascension in Luke 24 reveals how thoroughly God plans. Jesus told His disciples, “Everything written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” (Luke 24:44) The suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus weren’t random events—they were part of a divine plan spoken centuries before. And Jesus made it clear: the plan wasn’t over. He promised the Holy Spirit, saying, “But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:49) Stay until. The plan was still unfolding.
But here’s the challenge: knowing God has a plan doesn’t always make it easy to trust that plan, especially when life hurts. When we suffer, we might ask, “Is this really part of God’s plan?” We may even feel frustrated or angry with God for allowing certain things to happen. We might wish He consulted us first. The disciple Peter once had the same reaction. When Jesus predicted His death, Peter said, “Far be it from You, Lord! This shall never happen to You.” (Matthew 16:22)
The truth is, if God revealed His full plan to us ahead of time, we might respond just like Peter: “No, God. That can’t be right.” But we don’t see the full picture—God does. He knows what He’s doing. His plan of salvation, set in motion long before we were born, included the suffering, death, resurrection, and glorification of our Savior.
Though we don’t know every detail of God’s plan for our lives, we do know it’s centered in Jesus. As Jeremiah 29:11 says, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” His plans are made in love, carried out with wisdom, and filled with purpose.
As an alternative to Peter’s stubborn resistance of God’s plan, we can look to John the Baptist for his humility and flexibility. When Jesus came to be baptized in the Jordan River, Scripture says, “John would have prevented Him, saying, ‘I need to be baptized by You, and do You come to me?’ ” (Matthew 3:14) John’s expectations were different than what Jesus was wanting. But Jesus made it clear that He was advancing God’s will. “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” (Matthew 3:15)
John stood at a fork in the road. He could insist on His way, His idea of how it should be. Or He could submit Himself to a different plan. Three words tell us his response. “Then he consented.” (Matthew 3:15) John accepted that God’s ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts.
Many times the events of our lives place us in a fork in the road – to plant our feet firmly in stubborn resistance or to choose humility and flexibility. Years ago, I was told the number one rule of travel: Be flexible. We make our plans. But sometimes things go differently than expected.
Life doesn’t always go according to our plans. But faith means trusting that God has a plan, centered in Jesus, made in love for you. We trust in Jesus, who lived, died, rose again, ascended into heaven, and will return… all in God’s perfect timing.
Pastor Chris Kennedy 