God’s Plan for Your Life: Trusting His Purpose in All Things

Editor’s note – We’re running this piece because it reorients a question every believer asks in a hard season: does God actually plan the small stuff, or just the headlines of our lives? The author walks from Genesis to Cana to the empty places in our own biographies, showing that the God who ordered the days of creation also orders the days we don’t yet understand. Read it slowly. The point isn’t fatalism; it’s confidence that the Hand behind the wine at Cana is the same Hand behind your Tuesday.

God Has a Plan

When we read through the Bible and study God’s character, we can hardly fail to see that He works according to a definite purpose and plan. He does not do anything haphazardly. He does not leave anything to chance. There is nothing in God’s economy that is unintended or of no use.

The creation narrative in Genesis 1 shows us how structured and systematically God works when He does something. This does not mean that He never does anything new. No, it simply means that He knows exactly what He wants done, how He wants it done and why He wants it done. He has a plan and a purpose for everything.

There is so much structure in the Creation account. When we look at a chart of creation, we can begin to see more clearly how organized God works.

• Day 1: He created light and divided light and darkness.
• Day 2: God separated the waters from the waters so that there is a clear division between the waters on the Earth and the waters in the sky. He thus made Heaven and Earth.
• Day 3: God created the dry ground by separating it from the water. Then He created all the seed bearing plants on the Earth.
• Day 4: He created the sun, moon and stars to provide light during the day and at night.
• Day 5: God made the fish and creatures that live in the water and birds that fly in the air.
• Day 6: God created man and the animals from the dust of the Earth. He ordered man to subdue the Earth and rule over the Earth and all the animals that live on the Earth.

God first created the ground in which seed could sprout, and then He provided the seed. He firstly created the water and then He created all the fish and creatures that live in it. God initially put the Earth in place and then He created living beings. He always provides before He commands. It is simply the way He works. However, we often do not see His provision before we obey His command. He requires of us to live by faith, and not by sight. With this in mind, let’s pay a visit to some miracles of God that are recorded for us in the Bible.

Editor’s note – It’s worth sitting with the order the author points out: ground before seed, water before creatures, earth before Adam. Provision precedes command every single time in Genesis 1. That’s not a minor detail for anyone waiting on God to move before they can obey.

The Wine

We get introduced to Jesus as a public figure at the wedding feast at Cana (John 2:1-11). It is not at all strange to see that the very first miracle recorded for us, is one of provision. The wedding guests had no more wine. That could have been a major problem. Jesus could not have demonstrated any clearer that He is the true vine. He undeniably produces the best wine, to which the master of ceremonies attests. It is really not a problem when the Vine is present at the wedding!

Is it inexplicable and unfathomable that Jesus considered it important that there should be wine for the guests? Not at all. Everything He does is according to plan. Everything has a purpose. Are we not aware of the final wedding feast when the Lamb will be united with His bride, the Church? And do the Communion elements not clearly illustrate that the Lamb of God is the bread that we eat and the wine that we drink? Did Jesus not tell us that if we drink this wine, we shall have His life within us? Do we not expect to join with Him one day at His own wedding banquet when He will, for the first time since the Last Supper, partake of wine again? Is it not significant that His work commences at a wedding feast (John 2:1-11) and concludes with His own wedding banquet (Revelation 19:9)?

Water

Is it strange that Jesus chose to turn water into wine? The Bible tells us that the Word of God is the water that cleanses us (Hebrews 10:22). Is it any wonder then that Jesus, the One who cleanses us from all sin, should use water to turn it into wine? It is symbolic of His nature, His work and His life. He is the Word of God that became flesh. He is the Living Water. He is the water of the Word that cleanses us. It is His blood that was shed at the cross that cleanses us from all sin and assures us of an everlasting life.

Jesus stated that if we do not eat His body and drink His blood, we have no life in us (John 6:53-58). He said that if we live in Him, streams of Living Water will flow from us. Water and Wine. The two are inseparable in Christ, and He clearly illustrates this when He turns water into wine. We need both. Nothing on this Earth can survive without water, and without the water that turned into wine, there can be no life within us. Jesus truly is the source of life. He is the Living Water. He is the true Vine. He is the wine that was poured out for us. We have no life, no hope and no future without Him.

If God was so concerned about wine for the wedding guests, something that does not seem important to us, how can we then, even for one minute, think that our life, birth, and circumstances were left to chance? So many of us have heard that we were unplanned, unwanted and uninvited. That is not what God says. He knew each one of us from before we were born. He knew when you would be born and He knew why He wanted you to be born. Don’t you want to take a chance with God and trust Him with your life and ask Him to direct your footsteps? Who knows, you may be surprised to see how God uses seemingly insignificant and unimportant things to bring about extraordinary changes in the lives of the people with whom you share this planet.

Editor’s note – This is where the piece does its best work: moving from a wedding in Cana to your own birth certificate. If you’ve ever wondered whether you were an accident, the author’s answer is worth hearing twice – you weren’t uninvited to your own life.

Little Things

The world will most probably never forget the great tragedy that unfolded on 26 December 2004 when an earthquake and subsequent tsunami wiped out the lives of approximately three hundred thousand people. Eyewitnesses and survivors of this horrific event all agreed on one thing. They all said that it started off as a perfect day. One could not wish for a better day. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. There was nothing to indicate that something so devastatingly horrible was about to happen. There actually was one thing, but it was so insignificant that nobody paid attention to it. The currents were erratic, almost like an underwater whirlwind that changed direction all the time. Little things. God works with little things. (Please understand that I am not saying that God caused the tsunami. The point I am trying to get across is that little things, so-called trivial things, should never be ignored or taken lightly.) The slightest breeze can herald the worst storms. The history of Israel started with a single command. God told Abram to relocate. Just that. All he had to do was move house. Adam and Eve had to watch what they eat. It was not difficult to do. It was not something that they could not do. It was within their grasp. They weren’t commanded to do something that they could not accomplish. They were commanded to do something that anyone could do. Little things.

God’s Rest

When we are obedient to do what God commands, and when we persevere in our hope and trust in Him, He promises that we can enter into His rest (Hebrews 3). What does it mean to enter into His rest? It means that we are living in the reality of what He has already done for us.

God rested from His work on the seventh day. His work was complete because He had already determined that Jesus would die on the cross to destroy the works of the enemy. His work was complete because He had already decided that you and I would live at this time. He already had a purpose and plan for our lives in our lifetime. His work was complete because He already ordained that we would live in this time to do the good works He predestined for us to do. When God declares a thing, it is established. It is as good as done. I’ve said it, and I’ll most certainly do it. I’ve planned it, so it’s as good as done (Isaiah 46:11).

That is why we read that Jesus was crucified even before creation. That is why we read that God called us and prepared a place for us even before He created the Earth (Ephesians 1:4). That is why we can rest. When God declares something, it is settled. What has God declared over your life? It is already done! No, you do not yet live in the fullness thereof because, just as creation steadily continues to develop and progress until the end of time and the Day of the Lord when Jesus will come again, likewise your life is unfolding step by step until God finishes the plan and purpose He has for you and He completes the work He has begun in you. Nothing can change that. God’s Word will be fulfilled, but it requires a process. Growth requires time. God has determined that there would be a time for all things (Ecclesiastes 3); a time to sow, a time to wait for the seed to germinate, grow, and bear fruit, and then finally, a time to harvest. It is a process that unfolds on the canvas of time. The Master paints your life on this canvas so that you can complete the part of the scene where you ought to be and He determines the size and color of the brush strokes.

Editor’s note – “Rest” here doesn’t mean inactivity. It means the confidence that the outcome is already settled in God’s hand while the process still has to run its course in ours.

Decide now that you will place your life in His hands and that you will trust Him with your future. Walk with me and see how He uses ordinary people in ordinary circumstances to do extraordinary things. God’s supernatural, in partnership with your natural, daily creates miracles all around you. Do you always notice them? Come. Come, let us take the first steps on this journey of discovery of God and His love for ordinary people like you and me.

The steps of the godly are directed by the Lord. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will not fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand. [Psalm 37:23-24]

A Word from the Editor
If little things carry this much weight in God’s economy, then so does the small, unremarkable day you’re living right now. Jesus said not one sparrow falls to the ground apart from the Father’s care, and He numbers the hairs on your head besides. You don’t need to manufacture significance for your life. You need to trust the One who already planned it before you took your first breath.

Editor Comment: You trace the doctrine of providence from the ordering of creation to the wine poured out at Cana, and that connection reminds readers that God plans every detail of their lives even if we don't always see things that way.

This article appeared on Medium and is reprinted with modifications and by permission.