Imperfect

The Lord will perfect that which concerns me;

Your mercy, O LORD, endures forever;

Do not forsake the works of Your hands.

Psalm 138:8

God has a plan, and His plan has been in place since before time began. From ages past into ages yet to come, He is unfolding His plan according to His own will and purpose, and there is nothing that happens that is not part of it. God has never been surprised, not even once. Because before He started start, He knew the end from the beginning. In fact, He is the End. And He is the Beginning. He is the First, and He is the Last. He is the Alpha and the Oomega, the first letter and the final one. We are simply living out the eternal plan of God.

It's difficult to get our minds around sometimes, because in our limited human understanding, we want to think that we have some semblance of control over our own lives and destinies. We want to believe that the choices we make are vitally important, world impacting decisions. And they are, but they were part of the plan before we made our grand entrance onto the world stage. If you ever doubt that God's plan is in full effect, just read ahead in Psalm 139. It says that He knows everything about us, including our actions, our words, and our thoughts--they were all written down before we ever drew breath.

We are the creation of God, designed by His sovereign choice, formed and fashioned by His careful and omnipotent hand, led and governed by the power of His deliberate will. As we live and move and have our being, we are simply fulfilling that which has already been written. I'm not saying that we are puppets on the strings of some cosmic puppetmaster; we do have free will. We can make choices for ourselves, decisions for ourselves. We can determine which path our feet will tread. But God already knows what we are going to do, and He is never ambushed by any sudden moves on our part. He is still the master of our fate, the captain of our soul.

I am learning to put my trust fully and completely in Him. Sometimes I think I get a glimpse of God's plan opening around me. And just when I think I have things figured out, He smooths out a wrinkle in the page and suddenly what I thought I knew isn't necessarily the way things really are. Sometimes I make mistakes, sometimes I fail. But these also are part of the plan. They are bringing me to those places God has always known I would go, places where He can step in and do in my life what He needs to do. Every curve, every bend in the road, every pothole, every bump...God directs my path and orders my steps, and He knows very well the road I am walking. And He is using it to bring His plans to pass.

God will perfect that which concerns me.

He will bring all things together in Himself.

He does work out all things for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.

What God has promised, He will also do.

What God has started, He will be faithful to finish.

For we are His workmanship, created for good works in Christ.

He didn't start this process in us to leave it half finished; He is working with the end in mind. He is merciful and compassionate, and He will not forsake the work of His hands. He won't discard us as a project impossible to complete. He won't give up on us.

And I won't give up on Him. I will continue to live, and wait while He perfects everything that concerns me.