Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

This is a verse that assures us that God delights in his children. This alone should allow us to rest like babies at night and wake up with total excitement about how God will direct our day. Instead, for some of us, we sit down and conjure up in our minds all the things that could possibly go wrong tomorrow and the days after that, exhibiting a total lack of faith in God.

At the other end of the spectrum, some of us put plans together with a great deal of optimism and think we have it all figured out with our “to do” lists, updated calendars, appointments, reminders, flow charts and graphs.  We become confident that because we have taken care of every possible detail, things will go exactly as we have planned it. Sometimes they do, but every so often things ‘go up in smoke’ and we are left with the realization that so far as the future is concerned, we are in charge of absolutely nothing. Am I saying we shouldn’t plan anything? Of course not! Planning creates an orderly course for moving forward if circumstances permit.

In some cultures there is a phrase which people will add once they have voiced what they intend to do even the next day or some other point in time. In English we say “God willing” and in Spanish “Si Dios quiere”. Some people use these phrases with great meaning and some just out of habit, but it is an acknowledgment of the fact that they are aware that they do not control the future, God does.

For believers there should be no room for gloom when we think about the future because that would mean that we have already accepted defeat. Instead, let us believe our Father that he has everything well in hand, that he rules in the affairs of men, and that his canopy of love is over the lives of those who trust in him.

“Yes, I alone know the end from the beginning. I know how all things will turn out. For this reason I urge all men to trust in me and commit their ways to me for safekeeping. I am the only one who can garrison and protect my children from harm in the worst circumstances. For it depends on my plans for them. For whatever I have ordained for each of my children only I can preserve them that my plans for them come to pass. I desire only that they walk with me and listen to my voice to do as I command at the time and place I command it. I am the Almighty God.”