In a world of substitute sugar, artificial grass, I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, and countless other alternative replacements, we find ourselves looking to man’s engineering to alter God’s perfect plan. It just comes natural to us to think we can find and create a better way. Perhaps it’s a less painful way out of a trial, or a faster result for a difficult situation, whatever it may be, but we tend to think we know better. Sure, we start with the right motive, maybe even an honest-to-goodness biblical truth, but the second we put our spin on it, it is no longer His perfect plan. Isaiah tells us this:

Isaiah 55:9 (NKJV) “For [as] the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.

Ponder that just a second and remember the last time you looked up at the night sky. His thoughts are up there in the heavens and ours barely get off the ground. It amazes me that the same person who walks into a room and completely forgets why he is there, thinks he can make a better plan for his life. Like the guy who can’t find his car keys has a master plan for the future?! Even more alarming is when we try to substitute or alter His plan for salvation. This is beyond dangerous ground! When we try to add to, subtract from, or twist God’s perfect word to fit our lifestyle or life plan, we attempt to become above the Creator. It removes Jesus from the cross and nullifies the perfect sacrifice. No matter how we try to justify our way, it is only our own version of His plan. His plan is perfect. It may take longer than we would like. It may take a difficult route and surround us with difficult people. It may come faster than we could have ever imagined but we have to rest in the reality that it is His perfect plan, and we need to rest in the knowledge that the Creator of the universe knows what is best for us because He loves us with an undying and perfect love. It is a love so pure that it became the ultimate sacrifice on the cross. In this we can have perfect peace. Yes, perfect peace! What is that you say? An anxiety-free life? Yes, this is why He tells us to be anxious for nothing! If we trust in His perfect plan, keep our “substitutes” out of His recipe, and let Him lead and guide, then perfect peace is more than obtainable, it is promised. Isaiah 26:3 tells us:

Isaiah 26:3 (NKJV) You will keep [him] in perfect peace, [Whose] mind [is] stayed [on You,] Because he trusts in You.

It sounds so simple when you put it like that, but remember who we are dealing with, this is the guy who tried to burn down the house with a pop tart! It just doesn’t come naturally. It takes diligence and time in His word seeking that perfect plan. It takes praying and listening for His voice to speak. It takes the patience to wait and the faith to jump. Again, our ways are not His ways. I am so often in awe of looking back at what seemed to be impossible situations and then to see how His plan has worked out…most times in spite of me! It is as if you can see His big, broad smile, not mocking , but loving His chosen child as we succeed in what seemed like the Red Sea before us. His ways can and will bring you through literally anything this world has to throw at you. But you may say, “You have no idea what I’m up against.” No, I may not, but I’ll bet if you search the scriptures, you will find a similar situation with victory stamped across it. Lack of money, evil people chasing you, sickness, calamity, it’s all there and He has led His people through every second of every season, on purpose, and with purpose. He knows the end from the beginning; it’s who He is. Let Him be God. Jeremiah 33:3 tells us:

Jeremiah 33:3 (NKJV) ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.’

It is literally that simple. We must then quiet our mind, our life, our situation, and listen for His voice. It is difficult in that time to not “help” Him with a backup plan but that’s where Psalm 46:10 comes into play:

Psalms 46:10 (NKJV) Be still, and know that I [am] God;…

Then you can know His peace that passes understanding.

Selah