Wednesday, January 7, 2004
We tend to know the TV shows that were big when our children were growing up. So, I happen to know something about a program called "The A-Team." Our guys had a must-not-miss date each week with Hannibal Smith and B. A. Baracus, and the rest of this team of fugitive Vietnam vets who took on the causes of people victimized by the bad guys. The basic plot of each show was fairly predictable - bad guys pick on person, person hires A-Team, bad guys are about to win, A-Team comes up with a brilliant, and usually unlikely, plan, A-Team wins. These elaborate plans were hatched by the leader of the team - Col. Hannibal Smith. And he never seemed to tell anybody, including his team, why he was doing what he was doing, or asking them to do. But at the end, when the strategy finally unfolded victoriously, Hannibal would always smile and say those trademark words, "I love it when a plan comes together."
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "When the Plan Comes Together."
A flawless plan, a leader who carries it out without explaining it, an amazing outcome when the plan comes together. Whoa, that's more than a scenario for some fictional TV show. It may well be exactly what is playing out in your life right now.
God is working out an incredible plan for your life. He guarantees us in Jeremiah 29:11, "'I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" Right now, the issues and questions in your life may seem totally overwhelming to you. It's hard to see where this is all going; to see how it can all possibly work out.
You need the seven powerful words that are in our word for today from the Word of God. This statement, from 2 Samuel 22:31, is one of the anchor statements of my life. I quote it most days of my life. It simply says, "As for God, His way is perfect." God is working out a plan for you, and when it comes together, it will be perfect - perfectly timed, perfect for everyone affected by it, perfect for the long-term, not just the short-term - no ragged edges.
Now, I might be able to come up with a plan that would seem perfect for me - but not one that would be good for every person affected by it. Only God can do that. I might be able to come up with a plan that was good for a month, or a year, maybe even a couple of years. But only God can orchestrate a plan that is good for all the years to come. My plans, at their best, have a lot of ragged edges, loose ends, and unanticipated snafus. Not God's. His way is perfect. So His way is worth waiting for, worth trusting for, worth praying for. And as long as you're submitted to God's will, there is never anything worth worrying about!
There is a Sovereign synchronicity in everything God does - bringing people, events, opportunities, and resources together in the most amazing way. We sometimes balk at following God's leading because we get hung up on the "mights" and "coulds" and "what ifs," and the "yeah buts." The good news is that all the fallout of you doing God's will is God's business. Romans 12:2 says that when you are surrendered to Christ, "then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - His good, pleasing, and perfect will."
So now, in this season before God brings it all together, don't stop trusting Him. You can enjoy the wonderful peace of knowing that, "as for God, His way is perfect." And on that day when God smiles and says, "I love it when the plan comes together," I guarantee that you're going to love it, too.