Trust the Lord, it’s in His hand.
I can imagine some people’s response– “That sounds great, but in the meantime, what’s my responsibility and what can, or should I do?”
Especially if you’re a leader, and people are depending on you to make things happen, make things right, and/or make sure things don’t go wrong—even when you know “God’s got this”, you rightly feel you can’t just be passive or irresponsible.
What’s the right balance? How do we trust Him, in all His sovereign goodness, to take care of things, without going “AWOL” on our people or the situation?
Take our plans, for example. As leaders, we know that well-thought out, well-executed plans lead to effective outcomes and successful results. Conversely, as the saying goes, “If we fail to plan, we plan to fail.”
We plan events, vacations, corporate goals and how to achieve them, careers, families, etc. Some even make life-plans. And depending on our level of leadership and who’s involved, these plans can have a major impact.
Yet, as we all know, things don’t always go as planned. As Scripture points out, “The mind of a person plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” Prov. 16:9.
Everyone who set goals in Jan. 2020 can attest to that!
So what do we do when what happens doesn’t fit our plans?
1. Stop and take stock of the situation. If something isn’t working the way we planned it to, don’t keep doing it, and don’t keep counting on it.
2. Go to a contingency plan. If we don’t already have one or it’s no longer viable, create a new one.
3. Course correct. As mentioned above, we can’t stay emotionally or tactically attached to the original plan. Say a loving goodbye to it if we have to, and move on to a way that works.
4. Don’t decide or act alone. “Wisdom is found in a multitude of counselors.” Prov. 11:14 This assumes that the counselors are giving wise counsel. It also implies gathering a team of people with various strengths and personalities, each contributing in their own best way, so everything necessary gets covered and included.
Whether using strengths assessments, personality assessments, spiritual-gifts assessments, or best yet, all three of these, make sure we have “all bases” covered for planning.
5. Don’t just “SYI” (Share Your Ignorance) – Make the Lord our first and foremost counselor, above all others. “If anyone lacks wisdom, let them ask for it (from the Lord)…” Jas. 1:5. He is, after all, our “Wonderful Counselor” (Is. 9:6)
6. Execute according to the new plan. Whatever we can and need to do personally, do so. Whatever we can and need to delegate, do so. Just make sure to assign the right things to the right people, according to their strengths and skill-set.
7. Whatever no one can do, count on the Lord to do—this is where things get fun when we trust Him. Miracles happen. Blessings rain down from the One who reigns. He receives the glory. People end up trusting Him more or for the first time when they see: He cares; He can; He will—in His sovereign goodness.
As an illustration, let’s look at something that happened five years ago, in our church, at our Passover celebration.
As the resident Jewish-Believer-in-Jesus, wherever we’ve lived in the world, I’ve always introduced Messianic Passover celebrations to whatever congregation we’re ministering in, part of, or started.
For those not familiar with Passover, it’s one of the major Jewish holidays, commemorating the Exodus, when the Lord delivered them from slavery in Egypt. It also happens to be what Jesus and His disciples were celebrating, that Christians refer to as “The Last Supper”. (see Mat. 25:17-30 for a complete description). In other words, Communion = the unleavened bread and cup of Passover.
So it’s truly God-awesome, to recount and share about all the Messianic symbolism inherent in the Passover ceremony, pointing to Jesus, Who has delivered us from slavery to sin and death!
I enjoy planning the ceremony part (called the “Seder”), recruiting readers for parts, and delegating the food-prep to those with the gift of helps. These food-preppers also have the gift of boldness, making things they’ve never heard of until I give them the recipes!
Logistically, this involves a lot of “moving parts.”, and five years ago, one of those “moving parts” broke down. That’s when the Lord showed us all He had a greater plan.
One of the small group leaders in the church my husband pastors promised to get folks in his group to make all the “haroset” needed. Haroset is that delicious apples, honey, nuts, and wine (or grape juice) mix we all eat during the ceremony (and sometimes after if there’s enough left over). I was glad he volunteered his group, since that’s a lot of prep to do for a group of 90 people!
The time for the event came. The haroset didn’t. At least not from anyone in that small group. Either the leader forgot to ask them, or no one volunteered. Since I didn’t ask, the reason remains a mystery. Why embarrass anyone at that point?
Thankfully, I had decided to make and bring enough haroset to serve 8, in case there wasn’t enough. There wasn’t enough. Even with my small portion– for 90 people—what was that among so many?
I felt like the little boy who’d brought his two fish and five loaves to Jesus and the disciples—“Uh, here’s something to start with. Let’s see how far it goes.”
That’s when the parallel struck me— God, the Master’s, plan for this Passover celebration! Could it be? Why not? If Jesus could feed 5000 men plus all the women and children with them by multiplying a few loaves and fish, why not multiply the haroset to feed 90?!
I divided my small amount into 2 large serving bowls, called four middle- school girls over and told them, “Here— put a good portion of this on every plate on every table.” (10 tables, with 9 places at each)
They gave me that look that only young teens can give an adult they think has lost their mind. But despite their doubts, they stepped out in faith and obedience and started serving up good-size portions…
…and kept serving them up…
…and continued until ALL 90 plates had heaping-helpings…
…and BROUGHT BACK LEFTOVERS in both bowls!!
Then all the guests arrived, sat down, and we enjoyed our Passover Seder celebration.
Not as planned. Better than planned.
–Because God, as Mark Batterson puts it, “showed up and showed off.”
–Because four former middle-school girls, who started college last week, still remember what happened, and it built their faith in Him.
–Because our family remembers and has this story to tell and hold onto of “The Feeding of the Ninety”.
And because this brought out the timeless truth of what to do when things don’t go as planned. I followed the steps listed above, and the Lord made it work. He turned the failure into fun, fellowship, and fruitfulness (in more ways than one)!
Try it the next time your plan takes a “wrong turn” and watch what He turns it into!
Be Encouraged! 