When Plans Just Don't Work Out
The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
Proverbs 16:9
We plan our days, weeks, months, and years, but something almost always happens that interferes with those plans.
We plan to be at work on time, but then we get stuck in traffic (and all of a sudden anger ensues). We schedule a fund-raising sent, but we're not sure how many people will come or if we will reach our goal (and now we feel anxious). We want to succeed at work, but the promotion we wanted seems less and less likely (and that can be depressing).
We become angry when our goals are blocked, anxious when meeting them is uncertain, and depressed when they seem impossible.
In an attempt to accomplish their goals, insecure people will seek to control other people and events when they have no right or ability to do so. Our goal might be to have a happy and harmonious family, yet every member of the family can block that goal. But nobody and nothing can keep us from being the spouse and parent God called us to be. Nobody can keep us from being the person God called us to be, and that is God's goal for our lives. The fruit of the Spirit is love and self-control—not child- and spouse-control.
When our goal is love, then we have joy instead of depression, peace instead of anxiety, and patience instead of anger (Galatians 5:22-23).
This devotional is an excerpt taken from The Bondage Breaker Devotional by Neil T. Anderson.
Neil T. Anderson is the founder of Freedom in Christ Ministries. He began the ministry in 1989 and continues to spread the message of freedom to this day.