My Plans or God’s?


1 Kings 19:15-21
15 And the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael to be king over Syria.
16 And Jehu the son of Nimshi you shall anoint to be king over Israel, and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah you shall anoint to be prophet in your place.
17 And the one who escapes from the sword of Hazael shall Jehu put to death, and the one who escapes from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha put to death.
18 Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.”
19 So he departed from there and found Elisha the son of Shaphat, who was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen in front of him, and he was with the twelfth. Elijah passed by him and cast his cloak upon him.
20 And he left the oxen and ran after Elijah and said, “Let me kiss my father and my mother, and then I will follow you.” And he said to him, “Go back again, for what have I done to you?”
21 And he returned from following him and took the yoke of oxen and sacrificed them and boiled their flesh with the yokes of the oxen and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he arose and went after Elijah and assisted him.

Elijah is given his marching orders by God. The Lord never actually addresses Elijah’s “issues” but instead tells him what to do next. That’s all Elijah needs even though he might want more. He is told to anoint kings over Israel and Syria and to take up Elisha as his successor. Simple enough.

While Elijah spent energy and prayer time telling God what to do, God moves forward with His own plan. It is important to note that God didn’t appear to be angry with Elijah for his rant against his enemies, but neither was He going to move with destructive wrath like Elijah wanted Him to. He doesn’t even really address Elijah’s complaint. Sometimes, God’s silence with our pleas doesn’t mean He isn’t listening but that we don’t actually need or deserve His direct response to the suggestions of mere mortals. Another story that comes to mind where something similar happened is the story of the Transfiguration, found in Matthew 17:1-13 (which also involves Elijah!).

http://www.esvbible.org/Matthew 17:1-13

Matthew 17:4 says, “And Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” Peter has an idea! This is such an incredible event that he wants it to continue! He’s ready to go to work and build some tents for everyone. What a guy! But, you will also notice that neither the Father nor Jesus responds to Peter’s idea. The Godhead moves on with the task at hand. Peter isn’t chastised for his idea but neither is his suggestion needed. Just as we don’t take the ideas of the preschoolers in our lives, God doesn’t really need our helpful plans in order to accomplish His will. Just imagine your world if God were to follow all of your suggestions. You don’t possess His all-knowing power or His complete wisdom. The plans we make are based on limited information and often selfish motives. Our lives would be chaos if God moved on all of our plans. Once again, I am aware that this is easy to say and difficult to live out! There are situations in my life that I know I have good answers for, if only God would follow through on my plans – right? Thank You Lord, that You do what is best rather than doing as I say! Amen!

Comments

  1. NataliaAugust 2, 2012 at 1:04 PM

    Yes, it is not always easy to make a decision based on our limited knowledge and I tend to overanalyze decisions and situations because of that.
    I believe that because of this limited knowledge God want's us to grow into more confident and strong believers; through continues prayers, and reading and living God's word.

    It would be pretty weird asking for my husband's input for every decision I make and vice versa.

    Thank you Carolyn for the Devos.

    ReplyDelete

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