Direction

A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.  Proverbs 16:9

Has there ever been a time when you thought you had things all figured out, 'all your ducks in a row', everything planned out perfectly then suddenly everything changed?  Life was going along so well then someone got sick or died just as your long-planned holiday was underway, or perhaps you lost your job or were transferred to another town.  It was like your plans had been picked up and thrown to the wind and you thought "Why is this happening God?"

I have been reading through the book of Samuel which tells the story of King Saul's disobedience to God and God's rejection of him as king.  Samuel, the prophet had been directed to anoint David as the future king of Israel but the waiting time was a time of great testing as Saul became jealous of David and tried to kill him many times.  David's heart was tested greatly.  He had at least 2 opportunities to kill Saul and take the throne but he determined to allow God to order the timing of his kingship even though the wait was long and hard. The story makes very interesting reading.

During the time of keeping his distance from King Saul David lived for some years in Ziklag amongst the Philistines, who enemies of Saul, and would sometimes go to battle with them.  On one particular day the princes of the Philistines complained to their leader and objected to David joining them in battle. David complained, but was overruled and I'm sure he wondered why.  As it turned out there were 2 good reasons why this happened.  One was that when David and his men returned to their city they found that it had been attacked by the Amalekites and everything and everyone had been taken captive.  Because they were there soon after this happened they were able to pursue the raiders and recover their families and their goods.  The other very good reason for them not to be on the battlefield that day was that it was in this battle that Saul and his sons were killed.  David could not be accused of having any part in it because he wasn't there. (1 Samuel 29 & 30).

We may not always know why things don't go the way we plan but God will always have a very good reason why it doesn't.  We have probably all heard stories of people who should have been on a plane that crashed, or some who had been delayed on their way to work in the twin towers in New York on the day they were attacked but something had prevented them from being there which may have been frustrating as it was happening. If your plans go awry, see if you can take a moment to say a prayer of thanks that God is guiding and ordering your steps; he will have a good reason to have changed what you had planned.

Prayer:  Heavenly Father please help me to willingly submit my plans to you and trust you to order my steps.  Amen