GOD IS AT WORK

Ron Gray, Bearspaw Interim Lead Site Pastor

"The Lord will work out his plans for my life – for your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever. Don’t abandon me, for you made me." Psalm 138:8

The New Year is a time when many people look forward and plan out their lives for the year to come. Goals, hopes, dreams, and the reality of available resources all play a part in this endeavor. It is a good and valid exercise that I highly recommend. Depending on the situation in which you find yourself, such planning can be based on hopeful anticipation for the future, or it can be based on a desperate or anxious desire to change your life for the better. I want to remind you that as a follower of Jesus, you can look to the year to come with great confidence for God is at work.

When I was very young, there was an unfinished house in our rural district. Often when we drove to town we would pass that house. All one could see was the foundation and a few floor joists. There were no walls and no roof. At some point in the distant past the owner had started the home and never finished. As a child I was fascinated by this. Who were the long gone builders? What did they initially dream the house would be? Why had they stopped? I can remember that there was a sense of both curiosity and sadness surrounding the house. The builder’s plans and dreams simply never came to be a reality. They had abandoned the project.

I find it interesting that in Psalm 138, King David declares with confidence that God’s plan for his life will be accomplished. Yet he concludes the Psalm with a plea to God that he would not abandon him. Isn’t that the way of the human heart? We can say that God is guiding and working in our lives, but there remains that little seed of fear that he might just leave the project midway. Insecurity regarding God’s presence and interest in our lives runs deep in the human heart. Jesus’ coming dispels that fear and doubt.

There are many verses we can look to for assurance that God will not abandon what he is building in our lives. Jesus said, “And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20) Paul lived his life with the confidence that came from the knowledge that God was at work in his life. “And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purposes for them.” (Romans 8:28). A few years later he wrote to the Philippians, “For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.” (Philippians 2:13).

God is at work in your life. He is building something only he can build. As you move into 2024, by all means go ahead and plan, but be sure to plan in agreement with the One who is the Master Builder. Prayerfully ask him what his plan is and work from his blueprint. He will not abandon the project that is your life.

If you plan with God, what a year it will be!