If I Could Write The Script...
By Susan Klein
“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.”
Proverbs 19:21
Did you ever wish your life were scripted a little differently? Perhaps things haven’t turned out quite like you had hoped they would. Maybe you couldn’t have the children you so longed for, or perhaps you’ve suffered the loss of a spouse or the heartache of a wayward teen. Or, maybe you struggle to make ends meet every month. If you could write the script for your life, would it be different?
If I could write my script, I’d have a much healthier body and a great singing voice! I’d be the perfect June Cleaver wife and be married to a perfect version of Cary Grant, with three angelic children. We’d be sufficiently wealthy so that we could spend all of our time and money helping the needy and going on short-term mission trips all over the world. We would all get along perfectly and never want for more!
Sounds a bit unrealistic, doesn’t it? It reminds me of an “Outer Limits” episode where a man received a magic lamp with a genie inside. He was given three wishes. First, he wished for $1,000,000, but after giving some away and paying taxes, he was left with nothing. He also wished for power, so the genie turned him into Hitler! He realized his life hadn’t been so bad after all so his last wish was to go back to his former life again.
God didn’t create us and put us on this planet without a plan for our lives. His Word tells us that all of our days were written in His book before one of them came to be. It also states that not only are we predestined according to His plan, but that He created us to do good works which He prepared in advance for us to do. He’s had a plan for us all along! Yet, so often, we think our plan would be much better. Didn’t Jonah choose his plan over God’s, only to end up in the belly of a fish? And, Adam and Eve thought their plan to eat the forbidden fruit would benefit them more than God’s plan.
God is the Author of the script. Of course He encourages us to cooperate and engage in His plan, but we don’t need to exercise our artistic liberties by re-writing it. He has the perfect plan for our lives and we need to put our trust in that, especially when things don’t seem to be going as we think they should be.
GOING DEEPER:
1. Next time the going gets tough, instead of “wishing” for change, trust that God is working out His perfect plan in your life. Take it to prayer and ask Him to give you peace and contentment.
FURTHER READING:
Psalm 139:13-16; Ephesians 1:11, 2:10; Jeremiah 29:11-12
Susan is our Tuesday Morning Women’s Bible Study Coordinator and one of its teachers. She is also involved in inner city outreach.
