LIFE CHANGES
a devotional by Brandon Schneiderhan
"The LORD said to Gideon, 'The people who are with you are too many for Me to give Midian into their hands, for Israel would become boastful, saying, ‘My own power has delivered me.'" - Judges 7:2
What do I want to be when I grow up? Where do I want to go to school? Who should I marry? These are all questions we have all probably asked ourselves at one point, and rightfully so. These are very important things for us to decide. One of these will determine what we do for probably 40 years. Another will affect how well we might be prepared for the thing we do for 40 years. The last affects a majority of your life! How do we determine what choices we should make? GREAT question! I struggled with this question for a long time and the conclusion I came up with in my own strength is… I HAVE NO IDEA. Thankfully God spells it out pretty clearly for us.
Proverbs 14:12 tells us “There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” Wait a minute, WHAT? You might be saying, “come on Brandon! That’s not encouraging!” You would be right! In our flesh, it’s definitely not encouraging and not something we’d probably want to hear, but when it comes to knowing how not to make choices, it’s clear of the way we should take as believers. Proverbs 19:21 explains, “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.” Ok, so what does that mean? Well for one, if we make choices on our own, ultimately, they will crumble, but if we choose to follow the Lord’s will, those are the choices that will stand.
How do we act this out? Turn to Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.” Life isn’t always going to go the way we might’ve expected it to. I was listening to a song the other day and one of the lines stuck with me, “We make plans and hear God laughing.” Sometimes, that’s probably so true too! Looking back on a lot of the choices I’ve made in my past I’M SURE that was true. Of course, I’m not saying that it’s bad for you to plan because that’s far from true, BUT we need to be careful not to switch God’s plans out for our plans because trust me, His are far better. God can take even the best plans we could imagine for ourselves and completely spin it around and make it a million times better, just ask my wife!