“There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD” (21:30). God has a plan for us. We are each being shaped in a specific way to fill a specific role in God’s unfolding purpose. But each of us must choose this. We might reject God’s purpose and invest in our own dreams and goals. Most people, in fact, do just this. The decision that a person makes to pursue certain goals is a personal decision, but it is not entirely personal. Our values are shaped by our environment, and it is often a family, ‘tribal’ or cultural environment that leads to us forming the goals we do. The problem with all this is that it can grate painfully against reality. In the fable of the ugly duckling, a certain duckling felt like an ugly failure of a duck until she realised she was not a duck but a swan. Her self-expectations were shaped by her context and her context misdirected her. Likewise when we take it upon ourselves to decide what we are, or if we uncritically pursue the values of our culture we will inevitably be left unfulfilled like the swan in that story. Only God knows what we are, and only his plan for us suits us perfectly. Moreover, if we walk in God’s plan, nothing can frustrate that plan. There may be hardships of all kinds, but they will not frustrate his purpose for us. So many people suffer from frustrated ambitions. But if you recognise who God made you to be, and if your purpose is God’s purpose, then you will not be disappointed.
Thank God for the plans he has for you and ask him to lead you today.
Read Proverbs 21:22-31
