Dear Bethelites,
As we seek to do the Lord’s work, we need to plan, pray and be prepared. It is important to plan, but it is just as vital to submit our plans to the Lord’s will. The Apostle Paul said,…it may be that I will abide, that ye may bring me on my journey withersoever I go, but I trust to tarry a while with you, if the Lord permit (1 Corinthians 16:6-7).
I. We Must Submit
Notice, Paul frequently used the words, “maybe,” “I trust (or hope),” or “if.” In other words, he was saying, “This is what I like to do, but I am aware that my plans may not always work out. Unless the Lord permits.” Some of us may be thinking, “If that is the case, then why plan in the first place? We should not even plan. Why don’t we just let God decide, for He may change our plans?” But the truth is how can God change our plans when we don’t even have a plan to change?
In Acts 16:6-10, sometimes known as the Macedonian call, we can see how Paul was submissive to the Lord’s will. At that time, Paul, together with Timothy and Silas, had gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia. And they wanted to preach the Word in Asia Minor, but they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach there. The Bible does not tell us how the Holy Spirit forbade them. It could be through a conviction, or a certain opposition, and Paul took it as the Spirit’s leading. Subsequently, they came to Mysia, and they wanted to go into Bithynia. Again, the Holy Spirit stopped them from doing so, and then they came down to Troas. And yet again, that was not the place God wanted them to be. That was when he received the Macedonian call to go over to Macedonia. Take note of the number of times he was stopped in his plans. Paul did not say, “Well, I want to serve the Lord in the regions of Galatia, Mysia, Bithynia, or Troas, and if it wasn’t any one of these places, then I am not going to serve at all.” No, he did not do that! At every point, he was willing to submit to the Lord’s will!
Some people have this mentality, “I want to serve the Lord here, or there. I want to serve the Lord by doing this, and if I cannot do what I want, then I am going to give up. I am not going to serve at all.” We must never adopt this kind of mindset. Serving the Lord is a good thing, but it is not on our terms but God’s term, and it must be according to His will.
Dear friend, you may want to serve in a particular area, but has it ever occurred to you that you may not be the person God wants to serve there, and He has prepared someone else to serve there? Are you humble enough to accept that reality? Or He may want you to serve in another place. Are you willing to submit to His will? Are you willing to be the clay in the Potter’s hand, to be fashioned according to the Potter’s design?
To plan ahead is good because we will have a good focus, otherwise we will not know in which direction we are moving along. But we have to beware; never to make plans without God in the picture, or to make plans as if we are in control of the situation, and we alone are responsible for the success.
In James 4:13-15, there is this kind of presumptuous attitude we must never have. The proud person who said to himself, Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. He had decided on the day; it was either today or tomorrow. He had decided on the place; we would go into this particular city. He had decided on the duration of time; we were going to spend a year there. He had decided on what he was going to do; we were going to buy when the price was good and we were going to sell when the price was better. He had even decided on the result; we were going to make a profit. The problem was not with the plans, but the presumptuous attitude that it would be what it would be according to his plans. James went on to say, For what is your life? (Who are you? You are nothing.) It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. (Your life is so fragile that it can disappear at the split of a second, if you realize this is truly who you are, then you will humble yourself and say,) For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that (emphasis mine).
Several years ago in 2020, we were planning for our church camp. We were so excited to have Rev Dr Jeffrey Khoo as our camp speaker, and his wife Jemima and daughter May Lynn, to be our children's speakers. Then we received the news that Jemima had contracted advanced-stage lung cancer, and they would not be able to come. Immediately, our plans had to change. As the pastor, I had to stand in as the camp speaker of which I was happy to oblige. I planned to preach on the seven churches of Revelation, and I went ahead to plan. Then all of a sudden, the world was plagued with the Covid-19 pandemic, and we were told that gatherings of more than one hundred people were not allowed. While that was not a problem because we anticipated not more than one hundred camp participants. But then it would affect our church worship service which would exceed the one hundred people’s restriction, so we planned to divide our worship service into two, perhaps at 9 am and 11 am. Subsequently, the next restriction came, gatherings were limited to no more than ten people. Immediately, we had to change our plans for the church camp and worship services. Our church camp had to be cancelled, and we had to do online worship services. For the first time, we did our Zoom online worship services. Victoria went through six lockdowns due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dear friend, in just a matter of two months, we experienced many plans and changes that we had to make and break. What should be our attitude? “Lord, if You allow this thing to happen, You must have Your sovereign purpose. Though our finite minds cannot understand, we are willing to submit.” Therefore, we must say like the Apostle Paul who said, if the Lord permit. Indeed, we must plan, but if the Lord allows certain things to happen, we must be willing to submit.
Shalom,
Pastor Paul Cheng
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