Recently, I watched our young and very intelligent grandson, as he sat at our table, carefully shuffling that double pack of Uno cards. I offered to help, but he declined—so speedily and insistently that I began to suspect a thing or two. Often when we play this particular game, I have noted how, by some strange coincidence, he ends up with a much higher percentage of those wonderful ‘Draw Four’ and ‘Draw Two’ cards than I do, along with all those ‘Skip’, ‘Reverse’ and ‘Wild’ ones! You see, his card shuffling technique involves nonchalantly turning some over to find out what they are—and then ensuring they are strategically placed in that pack so that they end up in his hand and not mine!
Our Zain often has a wily plan like this in mind—until his grandmother succeeds in foiling it. Yes, recently, even though those cards were stacked, I somehow ended up with two ‘Draw Four’ cards as my final ones to play, thus beating him hollow. What a letdown for him. This time at least, his plans came to nothing!
All of us make plans, big and small, each day—plans that are hopefully much nobler than winning at a card game. Perhaps right now you have already planned out the next few days or weeks or months or even years of your life and have decided what you will do when and with whom. Yet it can all fall apart in a split second, can’t it? Someone becomes ill. Something happens at work that puts our job on the line. People change their minds. The bottom falls out of the economy. On and on it goes. And that’s why I have always tried to take to heart the following warning:
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. James 4:13-14
This past week, on the actual day when chaos seemed to reign in the government of our country and we were unsure who would end up being prime minister as a result, my husband looked at the daily Bible verse that had appeared on his phone for that particular date and read:
Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails. Proverbs 19:21
What a timely warning, we both felt. We can have very grand plans indeed—not only for our own futures but for the future of our country—yet in the space of a few hours, they can all come crashing down. And yes indeed, there seem to have been many such plans brewing in high places in our nation, some no doubt duplicitous and self-seeking, others noble and altruistic. But whatever the case, in the end, God will have the last word. Some politicians may feel they are omnipotent, but sooner or later, their reign will end. Yet the Lord’s continues on into eternity—and ultimately, no one can stand against it.
So whatever your plans and mine, may we always submit them to God, who understands and sees all things and whose purpose for us and for this whole world will ultimately prevail—forever.
Jo-Anne Berthelsen's Blog 