I don’t know if you are like me but I like to have everything mapped and planned out, but I have to trust that His plans are better than our plans will ever be.
It’s okay to plan and strategize, but with me that sometimes that can take the place of trusting in God. My plan almost becomes my god. So with me, a lot of times God says, trust me, take the next step and I will guide you.
Naomi and Ruth’s plans take a turn for the worse
I was reading the book of Ruth in the Bible for the last couple of days. If you are not familiar with the story of Ruth, the basic story is that Naomi along with her husband and two sons, who are from Israel, moved to Moab during a famine. While they were in Moab, Naomi’s husband had died. Her sons married local women, one of them being Ruth. Around ten years later, Naomi’s sons had died and now she was left with no one. Naomi heard that things were better back home and decided to go back to Judah, her homeland. Ruth decided to go with her and to help her out.
Now being a widow in those days was to be poor and without much hope. They were to live off the leftovers from people harvesting IF they were not driven off and basically lived a life of poverty.
Through several happen-stance meetings and God orchestrations, Ruth finally met and married Boaz. Ruth got pregnant and had a child called Obed. Naomi held him and the others said now God has restored sons to her. Ruth’s son Obed had a son named Jesse who had a son, David, who became King and of course, from that lineage we have Jesus.
That is just a quick recap of the book of Ruth. You need to read it all to do it justice. It is only 4 chapters long, so it is an easy read. Click here to read the Book of Ruth Online
God’s plans are so much bigger than ours
The thing that struck me was that for a while it looked like there was no hope for Naomi and Ruth. All their plans had seemingly been crushed with the death of their husbands.
But unbeknownst to them, God was working out something big that they could never have planned.
They would have never have guessed that their great-grandson would become one of the greatest kings of Israel and that many generations down our Lord and Savior would be born through their ancestry.
God has a habit of blowing your plans away with things that are so much better than you could have planned yourself.
Gods plans are always perfect
Things may be looking crazy and all YOUR plans may seem to have gone awry.
But give it to God!!
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He will orchestrate His plan.
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He will guide your footsteps.
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And He will blow you away with what He has planned.
Here are two scriptures to meditate on. We serve an AMAZING God!
Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. Proverbs 3:5–6 NLT
… I have cared for you since you were born. Yes, I carried you before you were born. I will be your God throughout your lifetime— until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you. Isaiah 46:3–4 NLT