“Many Are the Plans…”

by John Comer

“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails” (Proverbs 19:21).

Life takes some interesting turns, doesn’t it? When you were young, what did you plan to be when you grew up? My wife wanted to be a nurse. It didn’t happen. Tending scrapes and bruises for two sons were about the extent of her nursing career. When I was in high school I wanted to be an oboist in a symphony orchestra. Music lovers can rejoice that it didn’t happen. Then there was the period when I wanted to be a college history professor and walk around the campus looking wise. It may have been the latter part of this dream, the part about looking wise, that made this hit the dust.

It’s not uncommon for “When I grow up” plans not to be met. It’s the unexpected turns that keep coming along for the remainder of life that keep us on our toes. In spite of the strongest human efforts, things sometimes work out to the contrary of what was intended. One variety of such plans gone awry is “The Law of Unintended Consequences,” and it’s not necessarily a bad law, as the following example will show.

Jesus told his apostles that they were to be his witnesses first in Jerusalem, then in all Judea, Samaria, and on to the ends of the earth. They obeyed him by powerfully proclaiming his resurrection to the very people in Jerusalem who had insisted on his crucifixion.

But the apostles’ message about the Messiah was strongly opposed by the local power establishment, and the apostles were jailed, threatened, and warned not to speak any more in the name of Jesus. The level of tension rose higher and higher in Jerusalem until finally Stephen, a man full of God’s grace and power, was stoned to death by an out of control mob.

These people who opposed Jesus so violently accomplished precisely the opposite of what they had intended, for a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and rather than silencing the good news about the resurrected Savior, the cruel wind of persecution intensified the flame of zeal as believers spread out into Judea and Samaria, proclaiming Jesus’ lordship exactly as he had commanded.

The little boy who wants to be a fireman may become a policeman instead. Anyone who plans to silence God will meet unintended consequences as he confronts the eternal Word. But our lives will be interesting and enriched as God’s plan works out in his universe.