When God Has Other Plans

Tidbits of Truth: When God Has “Other” Plans
Everything in this life does not always work out the way we plan for them to. This is one of those undeniable, irrefutable, absolute truths that we all know to be factually correct. One account in Scripture that addresses this very issue has to do with the life of Jacob.
Jacob was the younger of twins, and he was born into a very dysfunctional family. As a grown man (and with the aid of his mother) he intentionally deceived his father into giving “him” the birthright that his brother had every intention of attaining for himself even though Esau had already sold that birthright (in an act of impatience) to Jacob, and for nothing more than a bowl of porridge.
Furthermore, God had already given His word that Jacob would be the inheritor of the birthright, only Jacob and his mom wouldn’t wait for God to work things out, so they decided to give God a little help. (Ever been there and done that?...I have.)
Well, through deception and trickery, Jacob and his mom succeeded in their little act of deception, but when his brother found out that he had been robbed of the birth right, he suddenly had “murder on his mind” so Jacob had to suddenly flee for his very life.
If ever there was a case of “reaping what you have sown” Jacob became the epitome of that example. For 20 years his scheming Uncle Laban had taken advantage of him on every turn. Finally, Jacob decided “enough was enough” so he sets out for home, hoping his brother has gotten over his vengeful desires that he had once possessed towards Jacob in the past.
However, when Esau hears of his brother’s soon arrival; he gathers 400 men (a veritable army) to go and to meet his brother. Jacob is afraid, so he quickly devises a plan in which he hopes to convince his brother into sparing his life. He then sends his wives and kids over on the other side of a brook, while he goes back to the other side of that brook to spend some “ALONE” time with God. And Jacob does the only thing that he felt he was able to do in defusing this situation—he goes off to pray.
Hardly before he can even get a prayer off the ground, suddenly out of nowhere, an unknown intruder appears…and all He wants to do is fight; so all night long these 2 tussle. Jacob doesn’t want to fight, he came here to pray, to ask God to help him avoid becoming involved in a fight with Esau…remember?
But God Has Other Plans! (Have you ever started out to do something, and due to circumstances that were completely beyond your control, the thing you started out to do, it never turned out in any kind of way that you had intended for it to?) That was exactly where Jacob was this night.
Jacob had come here to pray to God to make sure that his brother had experienced a “Change of Heart” since their last encounter, but God decided that it was going to be “Jacob” who was going to have this “Change of Heart” experience, not Esau.
(I wonder how many times that we have prayed for God to change somebody else…and all the time, God knew that it was “US” and not “THEM” that really needed to do the changing.)
All night long, the clash continues. No sleep, no rest, not even time to put in a good prayer…by the wee hours of the morning, the only thing that Jacob has strength left to do is to just hold on. It was probably just about here that Jacob began to realize that “This Was No Man Thing…This Was a God Thing” for it was ‘GOD’ who had sent this opposition in his direction… (Boy that will mess with your mind, won’t it?).
Jacob finally realizes that the greatest achievement that he can ever attain is in receiving the blessings of God upon His life. As “CHANGE” begins to take place in his life. He is totally exhausted. Nevertheless, he tells the angel, “I will not turn loose unless you bless me.” And bless him the Angel of the Lord did; only, “Blessings don’t always come the way that we expect them to.”
The Lord first changes his name from Jacob—(trickster) to Israel—(Prince with God). And then, to show Jacob that God had been in charge all the time, with only a “flick of His finger” God…causes Jacob’s entire hip to suddenly be jerked out of socket as the sinew of his thigh just shrivels up.
It affects Jacob to such a degree until, for the rest of his life, he will walk with a limp…but “His Limp” did not come before Jacob got his Blessing!
How bad do we want God’s Blessings on our Lives? For there are times that God’s blessings come to us free and without charge…but there are also other times that God’s Blessings come with a price tag connected to them!
So if things aren’t working out the way “WE” planned, just perhaps: “God May Have Some Other Plans” for our Lives!
Just a Thought,
Pastor Ken Jones