Plans Without God — Aneel Aranha
Hello and welcome to The Hope Podcast. I’m Aneel Aranha. Today, we will talk about how we should ensure that God is part of our plans when we make them.
We often blame God when things go wrong in our relationships, our careers, and even our health, and we get mad at him when he doesn’t give us an instant fix to our problem. But here is the point we often forget: we never involve God in our decisions when we make them or in our lifestyles as we live them!
We fell madly in love (madly being the operative word!) and got married without even the pretense of consulting God! We accepted the job offer without asking God if this was what he wanted for us. As for our health, we treat our bodies shamefully, eating as we please and never exercising, unmindful that our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit and should be treated as such! And then, we act surprised when things go wrong and wonder where God is!
These are generalizations, of course, but I am sure we will agree that we don’t always discern God’s will before making decisions. We can’t do anything to undo these things except repent for them, ask God to mitigate the consequences, and believe that he will still make good come out of our mistakes.
Going forward, however, we can take a page from Moses’ book. From the time God called Moses at the burning bush when he was eighty years old until he died on Mount Nebo forty years later, Moses never took a step without divine guidance. And even when God directed him to do something, he refused to move unless God went with him. When God told Moses to lead the people into the Promised Land, “Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here” (Exodus 33:15). God assured him: “I will do the very thing you have asked, because I am pleased with you” (Exodus 33:17).
We please God when we seek his will in everything we do. “But,” you may ask, “How do we determine his will?” By reading the scriptures! Paul advised: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2). Our minds are renewed when we replace what is programmed in them by the world with the word of God.
And, while we are at it, we can do what a friend of mine does. He gets God involved even in simple decisions. One day, when we were eating at a restaurant, he was presented with the menu. He closed his eyes for a moment, then placed his order. When he saw my quizzical expression, he said he was asking God what he should eat. I laughed, but when I thought about it later, I realized it was a fantastic way to get used to seeking God’s will in every situation. I hope you think so, too.
God bless you.