A Better Plan

Thursday, May 18

A Better Plan     

Night and day we pray earnestly for you, asking God to let us see you again to fill the gaps in your faith. 1Thessalonians 3:10

I wonder if you have ever prayed really hard for something, only to find God wasn’t answering your prayer. It can feel very discouraging. You find yourself thinking or even saying – Get Me Out of Here! If it’s any help, the Apostle Paul had that experience too. Today’s verse was written when Paul was in prison. We can read in between the lines to understand the agony of what Paul was experiencing at this time. He certainly was looking for a way out. Paul was praying really hard that he could be released soon, because he worried about the new converts in the places he had recently been.

Scripture tells us he was praying ‘night and day’. If that’s not a cry to say get me out of here, I don’t know what is. Paul really wanted to get out of that prison. Maybe you feel trapped in some way too and are desperate to be free from whatever it is that is holding you back, perhaps it’s even keeping you from loved ones. But I ask you this question, if God was to get you out too soon then what?

Didn’t God care about Paul? Didn’t God care about the new believers? Yes, but He had a better plan and we must understand that God’s plan is BEST.

Paul says he desperately wanted to see the believers at Thessaloniki so that he could supply what was lacking in their faith.

But, God had a better plan and so God kept him in prison. While he was there, Paul’s desperate concern for the believers prompted him to write letters, which now make up half the New Testament. Those letters have ‘supplied what is lacking in the faith’ of all the believers in all the world for all time ever since! That was a much better plan, you have to admit, even though Paul probably never saw it.

If God doesn’t answer your earnest prayers that you pray day and night, one reason may be because His plan for you is far better and far bigger than anything you can foresee.

Ah, if only we knew as much as God! But since we don’t, let’s decide (hard though it is) to put our trust in the One who does know and who does love us. That’s what matters in the end – we are loved.

Prayer for today: Loving God, at times I want to pray for Your release. The weight is too heavy, the trails are just too much. However, in these moments I am reminded not my will but thy will be done. Lord, please forgive me for the times I have assumed You didn’t care about me, when Your plan was better than my plan. I want to trust You with my situation today. Help me to seek Your face and rely on Your strength during this season. Amen.