PLANS: God, the Mapmaker

August 15, 2010

PLANS: God, the Mapmaker
Jeremiah 29:11

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

PART 1
Identify the Current Issue

We are all attached to plans – plans for dinner, recipes, work schedules, exercise routines, curriculum, 5-years goals, mortgage pay-off plans, vacation plans, etc. As humans, we need a plan in place to make the most of our time. Today we’re going to talk about the plan for our lives – how that plan is made and how we come to understand its specifics.

Let’s start by looking about how we make plans for a trip – driving directions. If I asked you, “what’s the best route?” what two pieces of information are essential for you to answer my question well. (starting and ending points)

Our starting point for this exercise is Athens, and our ending point is Knoxville.

[Q] What’s the best route from Athens to Chattanooga? What’s the quickest route? What’s the most scenic route? What if I’m afraid to drive on the interstates around Atlanta?

[Q] What if need to pick my nephew up from camp in Dahlonega and attend a wedding in Big Canoe on the way?


PART 2
Discover the Eternal Principles

The plans we have for our lives are a lot like the driving directions we make. We need to know where we are and where we’re going before there’s any point in making directions. Once we know those two things, the directions we make will depend on the things we feel are important to do on the way. Do we want to get there quickly? Do we want to do things on the way?

Making a life plan is daunting. If only there were a MapQuest.com for life. Fortunately, we read in Jeremiah that God already has a plan for our lives.



Teaching point one: God, the Great Mapmaker, has a plan for your life.

Even though we are all fairly new to this life, maybe 20-30 years into it, God has been involved in our lives since the beginning of time. He doesn’t turn His attention to a plan for our lives when we finally realize that we need one. He began and finished that plan before we came into existence.

Read Psalm 139:13-16.

13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother's womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth,
16 your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me
were written in your book
before one of them came to be.

[Q] When did God first start planning our lives? Was He reacting to any decisions or life choices we had already made?

[Q] What do verses 13-14 tell us about how involved God was in planning our lives?

[Q] What does v. 16 tell us about when the plan for our life was made?


Teaching point two: The plan is good. It is for a hope and a future.

All of us want the best for our lives. We want to be successful and happy in every way that we know how. Sometimes it’s hard to trust anyone else to care as much about our own welfare as we do. Sometimes that’s even true with God. Have you ever said this to yourself:

Certainly the God of the entire universe couldn’t be interested in every little detail of my life, so I better help Him with those. Maybe He’s not really even interested in me at all, so I’ll make my own plans just in case.

The good news is that we can trust God with every hair on our head. He has told us that He has a plan for us that is for a hope and a future. But how can we be sure that God’s idea of a hope and future and ours are the same?

Read Psalm 23.

1 The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.
2 He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
3 he restores my soul.
He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name's sake.
4 Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
6 Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

[Q] What kind of hope and future does God promise us in this psalm?

Read John 3:16.

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

[Q] What kind of hope and future does God promise us in this verse?



Teaching point three: God wants us to know His plan.

Even if we believe that God has a plan for our lives, it’s hard to imagine getting a copy of it. When’s the last time God sent a tablet of stones with writing on it down the mountain? Since very few of us hear God’s voice audibly, we struggle to understand the details of His plan for our lives, even if we believe that it is generally good.

God is a God of details. Look at nature around you. The details are what are so amazing! One thing you can learn from nature about God is that he doesn’t like exact duplication. Every single flower and creature is unique – not exactly the same as any other. Human beings are just the opposite. We find a pattern we like, and we repeat it over and over again in architecture, clothing, food, you name it. God loves unique details, and if He loves them so much, then He wants to share them with you.

But how? God speaks in many ways. Some of the most common are through scripture, prayer, worship, words of a friend. The one thing that you can count on is that God will speak to you in a way that you can understand.

Read Jeremiah 33:3

"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know."

[Q] What are some ways that God communicates with us?


Teaching point four: God fulfills His plan in and through us.

When we start to understand the details of God’s plan for our lives, it is easy to wonder if we are doing a good job of it. Are we letting God down? Are we succeeding like He hoped? Sometimes God’s plan is hard and doesn’t look like the world’s version of success.

Read Philippians 1:6.

He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it.

[Q] What hope does this verse give us?


PART 3
Apply Your Findings

[Q] When you graduated from high school, what kind of road map did you make for your life? What considerations went into making it? Did anyone help you?

[Q] How has that plan helped you to this point in your life?

[Q] Has there ever been a time when you sensed God changing that plan to fit His? If so, how did you respond?

God has a plan for your life – a plan for a hope and future with specific details with you in mind. God wants to share that plan with you and help you live it out. No matter where you are on your journey with God – whether you are trying to decide if He exists at all or if you are several steps down the road on a plan that is unfolding – take time this week to trust Him at His world. Call out to him in prayer, and ask for great and unsearchable things that you do not know. Ask him to answer you in a way that you can understand. That may be during a church service or on a bumper sticker that catches your eye in traffic. God has no limits on how He can communicate with you.

Here is a simple prayer you can use:

Father God, I know that You have a plan for my life, and I want to understand it. Please reveal something of Yourself and something of that plan to me this week in a way that I can understand. Amen.