Living according to God's plan

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For us, shaped by today's times and society, it's perfectly normal to make all decisions for and about our own lives. "How could it be any different? After all, I can do whatever I want. I can think however I want. I won't let anyone dictate to me, and certainly not let anyone else control my life!"

Many people think this way, or something similar, with indignation. But is this assumption even true? Was it your own decision to live? Who created the plan for your life? And what does this plan look like? I invite you to reflect on these questions—yes, on your life and also the purpose of your life—in the light of God's Word.

Who wanted your life? When faced with this question, you must surely acknowledge that it wasn't your decision to be born. And it certainly wasn't your choice what gender, what appearance, or what your ancestry is. A song by Jürgen Werth aptly reminds us of precisely this fact.

Never forget: That you are alive,
was not my own idea,
and that you breathe,
It's not your decision.
Never forget:
That you are alive,
was someone else's idea,
and that you breathe,
His gift to you.

David recognized the origin of all life and expressed it in a psalm: “For you formed my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; wonderful are your works, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from your sight when I was made in the secret place, woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed flesh; in your book were written all the days ordained for me before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!” (Psalm 139:13-17).

Yes, that is a wonderful and important realization. God had a perfectly clear and unique vision of you when you were still an unformed seed. In His immense creative power, He artfully shaped you. Your appearance, your gender, and even your ancestry are not accidental. God, your Creator, decided all of that.

He has also determined the days of your life. Yes, your destiny too is in God's hands. The wise Solomon points this out: "A person's heart plans his course, but the Lord directs his steps" (Proverbs 16:9). It is perfectly normal and part of being human to make plans and shape one's life. However, you should remember: Never act independently of God, your Creator. Entrust every day of your life and all the decisions in your life to God and recognize: God's plan for your life is perfect.

In Proverbs we read: “The plans of the heart are a person’s own, but the right answer of the tongue comes from the Lord” (Proverbs 16:1). Here, the wise Solomon speaks of God having the final word. And in verse 4, he describes how God “has made everything […] for its appointed purpose.” Solomon continues in verses 6-7: “By grace and truth sin is atoned for, and by the fear of the Lord one departs from evil. When a person’s ways please the Lord, even his enemies are at peace with him.” So, if you submit your will and your plans to God’s will—that is, if you live in dependence on God—you will be protected from evil, and your life will please the Lord.

The Apostle Paul also testified to this in the ancient city of Athens in Greece before the highest council, the Areopagus, saying: “The God who made the world and everything in it, the Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. From one man’s blood he made every nation to inhabit the whole earth, and he determined beforehand the times and the boundaries of where they would live” (Acts 17:24-26).

In his address to the council members, Paul emphasizes that God is not dependent on humans. God has no need to be served by humans. Humanity, however, is dependent on God and lost without Him. For it is God Himself who gives all life. In His omnipotence, God brought all the nations of the earth into being from a single human being, namely Adam. And Paul also shows the Athenians the goal for every nation of humankind: "That they should seek the Lord" (Acts 17:27). Every person who seeks God can perceive God. God can be found, for He is not far away.

Those who believe in Jesus Christ,
Justice will be served and justice will be served.
without any personal merit, solely on the basis of his deputyship
Atonement offering of the Son of God.

It is therefore not up to God, but up to the individual whether they are willing to acknowledge God as their Creator and submit to God's will. This was also the case among the members of the Athenian council. There were some who mocked Paul's speech, while others were quite willing to listen to the apostle once more. And there were also some men there who became believers and joined Paul.

Paul expressed the same thoughts to the Christians in Rome in his letter: “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly perceived, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse” (Romans 1:20). God has been recognizable in His mighty works since the creation of the world.

God has not shrouded Himself and hidden Himself; no, He is visible. God reveals Himself gloriously in nature, in every living being—be it a leaf, a blossom, an animal, or an insect. God's omnipotence is also recognizable in the sound of rushing water, in every ray of sunshine, and every gust of wind. However, humankind must be willing to recognize God's essence and work in these things.

This idea is clearly expressed in the following, well-known song:

You great God,
when I look at the world,
that you created
by Your omnipotent word.
When I pay attention to all those beings,
which you govern
and nourish on and on.
Then my heart rejoices in you,
great ruler, to:
How tall are you! How tall are you!
I look up
to those luminous worlds
and see the stars
countless numbers,
like the sun and moon
to camp in the bright ether,
like golden ships
sublime and wonderful,
Then my heart rejoices in you,
great ruler, to:
How tall are you! How tall are you!

Let's consider the people of Israel. God had a plan for them. They were to be freed from slavery in Egypt. God had also provided a way for His people to achieve this. But the people of Israel repeatedly resisted God's ways and wanted to go their own way.

We read a summary of this in Psalm 95:6-11: “Come, let us worship and bow down; let us fall down before the Lord our Maker, for he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, the sheep under his care. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did when you were challenged, as on the day of trial in the wilderness, when your ancestors tested me; they tried me—and saw my work. For forty years I loathed that generation; and I said, ‘They are a people who go astray in their hearts, and they have not known my ways,’ so I swore in my anger, ‘They shall not enter my rest!’”

The people of Israel are given to us as a cautionary example. Their lack of insight and their hardened hearts provoked God's wrath. They saw God's works. Day after day, they saw God's presence in the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire. And yet, they resisted God's ways by grumbling against Him and acting stubbornly. The Apostle Paul warned the believers in Ephesus: "Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is" (Ephesians 5:17). This very warning applies to our time as well.

This raises the question: What is God's will or plan for your life? The prophet Micah put it perfectly: "He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God" (Micah 6:8).

These three tasks are crucial for staying in God's plan.

1. Keep God's word

The Bible, God's Word, is the guide for our lives. In it, God reveals His plan of salvation in His Son, Jesus Christ. God's Word shows us that every person is guilty before God. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). Sinful humanity falls short of the glory that God gave them as His creation and in His image (see Genesis 1:26) by rebelling against God's commands. The consequence of sin is separation from God.

Never act independently of God, your Creator.

But God's Word also shows us the way out of this predicament: "So that they are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:24). Whoever believes in Jesus Christ is justified and declared righteous without any merit of their own, solely on the basis of the atoning sacrifice of the Son of God. "Grace" is an undeserved, voluntary act of God, shown out of love. "Redemption" refers to the ransoming of a sinful person from their guilt and punishment through the substitutionary life and blood of Jesus Christ.

Unfortunately, many people refuse to acknowledge this biblical truth. They do not see themselves as sinners and therefore not as dependent on God's plan of salvation and ultimately on God.

2. Practice love

The second task mentioned by the prophet Micah is "to practice love." To be able to practice love, it is essential to be embraced and permeated by God's love. The Apostle John writes: "And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him" (1 John 4:16). First, it is necessary to recognize and accept God's love in His Son, Jesus Christ. Only then is it possible to put this love into practice in the life of faith.

Only when you have experienced God's immeasurable love and the value of your justification through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ on the cross of Golgotha—which means recognizing the extent of your own guilt and accepting forgiveness in Jesus Christ—will you be able to look to Christ, learn from His love, and show that love to others. Love in the divine sense means service and self-giving: "Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28).

The Apostle Paul followed this example and devoted himself wholeheartedly to serving others. It is more blessed to give than to receive. This is God's will for your life.

3. To be humble before God / to walk with God in understanding (cf. ELB)

Furthermore, the prophet Micah instructs us to be humble before God. What sounds self-evident at first is, in fact, not a simple exercise. Humility means complete submission and submission to God's will.

The Apostle Peter provides us with very important insights on this topic in his first letter: “Likewise, you who are younger, submit to the elders. All of you should submit to one another, clothing yourselves with humility, because God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:5-8).

Peter writes that everyone should be clothed in humility because only a humble person can receive grace from God. The garment of humility represents a protective covering for us. If this covering is missing, then it is easy for the adversary to take a person as prey. The prerequisite for not being devoured is to "remain beneath" God's hand. This means accepting God's guidance even when, from a human perspective, another path seems to be the right one.

It happens time and again that people try to interfere in God's ways because they think they know better. However, this only demonstrates unbelief and a lack of trust in God. If you are worried that something is going wrong for which someone else is responsible (e.g., in your church), then don't rebel against it, but bring your concern before God in prayer and trust that He will care for you. The devil wants to devour you in your rebellion. Resist him by standing firm in faith and trust in God.

The three tasks mentioned by the prophet Micah call us to view all events and occurrences in our lives from God's perspective and to surrender ourselves completely to God's will. Knowing full well that He holds the deepest abysses of the earth and the highest mountain peaks in His hand (cf. Psalm 95:4). Nothing in our lives happens purely by chance. God is the one who guides our lives.

In light of this fact, we may trust God's word through Paul to the Romans: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those whom he predestined he also called, those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:28-30).

And again we read about a prerequisite. It concerns people who love God. For these people, all things work together for good because they live in accordance with God's plan. They are called to belong to God and to be transformed into the image of His Son. This process of transformation, however, means persevering and maintaining faithfulness in the face of persecution and hardship (cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:4-6).

People who have recognized themselves as sinners and acknowledged their guilt experience God's love in being justified through Jesus Christ and sharing in His glory through suffering for Christ. "Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory" (Romans 8:17).

In his letter to the Philippians, the Apostle Paul goes so far as to say: It is grace not only to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for his sake (cf. Phil 1:29). Paul, who had achieved great personal accomplishments and attained a high, respected position in society, considered this gain to be loss and filth after comparing it to Christ.

All these personal advantages had become worthless, and Paul had only one goal. He wanted to be conformed to Christ: “that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on account of faith—in order to know him, and the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, being conformed to his death” (Philippians 3:9-10).

Every person who asks about God can perceive God.

People who rely on personal advantages (like Paul before his conversion), such as education, background, experience, or intellect, reject—even unconsciously—God's authority and God's plan for their lives. They refuse to acknowledge God as the Creator or His ways. However, a conscious or unconscious rejection of God's authority and providence leads to a constant struggle with the fatal consequences of their self-willed, wrong decisions. People grapple with the consequences and try to improve the world or other people in some way.

But they fail because they refuse to recognize that rebellion against God (sin) is the root of all evil. In Romans we read: “Or do you despise the riches of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? Because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. He will repay everyone according to what they have done: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, he will give eternal life; but to those who are selfish and disobedient to the truth and obey wickedness, he will give wrath and anger” (Romans 2:4-8).

Therefore, recognize God's goodness and repent. Don't fail to align your life with God's will, focusing on Christ, so that you may have eternal life and not have to fear God's wrath and anger.

It is a grace not only to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for his sake.

In times of distress, David described the way out of hardship this way: “They boast in their chariots, and others in their horses, but we boast in the name of the Lord our God. They have fallen down and stumbled, but we stand firm and are upright” (Psalm 20:8-9). Those who rely on their human advantages will fail. Those who depend on Christ will be sustained by Christ!

Anatoli Kramm
Lappenstuhl Municipality