Rays of Hope ~ Tim Stockton
In the Gospel of Luke Jesus uses an analogy about someone who sets out to build a tower but doesn’t count the cost of what it will take to have enough to complete it. He went on to also tell that would be about like a king wanting to set out to war against another king, but doesn’t sit down first and consults whether he is able to withstand an army of 20,000 against his 10,000. “Likewise, whosoever of you that doesn’t forsake all that he has, cannot be His disciple.”
Most could probably think of a time when something didn’t go quite like they had first anticipated. If someone intended to build something and then not have enough to finish it you can say things did not go as planned. Just think of times in your own life when things in life have not quite gone like you had hoped for. What feelings and thoughts are associated with that? Have you used it as a stepping stone to greater things or has it continued to be a hindrance in your life?
Just a few examples throughout the Bible of situations that didn’t go quite like the person had hoped for. Lucifer became prideful and thought that he could overthrow his Creator. Being cast out of heaven with hell to be his eternal destination was not quite the goal he was thinking would happen.
Adam and Eve never anticipated that their being deceived and making a bad choice to disobey God’s command would get them kicked out of the Garden of Eden and bring death to the human race. That is not what they had planned on.
The disciples had hoped and longed for a new earthly king to rise up to “save them” from the Romans. When Jesus came on the scene and his plan of salvation of becoming the King of Kings through his sacrificial death was not what the disciples had planned for.
Peter never thought that he would deny Christ and told Jesus that he would go with Him even to death. However, when Jesus got betrayed and arrested Peter soon was denying that he even knew Him. Though he later repented and was restored for this denial this was not at all what Peter had planned would happen.
In the Old Testament Joseph had some dreams that he would one day rise above his older brothers, but never really planned on what he would have to go through in order to get to the position of being second in command of all of Egypt. This is something we need to think about when things do not go as planned in our own lives. We may not realize all of the troubles and struggles we may have to endure in order to get to the place the Lord wants us to be in order to fulfill the ministry God has called us to. Things may not go the way we had planned, but if we trust in God things will eventually go even better than planned.
~TRS written 3-27-22
Rays of Hope 