"God's Plan Is Not Easy"

"But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: For I will shew him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake." Acts 9:15,16

Every true follower of Christ has one primary desire-- to fulfill God's plan for their life. Why is it though that we think that plan is "easy"? Why do we think that once we know it, we are just going to "sail" smoothly into it? Fulfilling God's plan isn't always easy. It often comes at a price. It gets us out of our comfort zone. It stretches us. It causes us to exercise our faith. It takes us into unfamiliar places. It leads us through paths that we don't always understand.

The plan of God took Joseph into a pit, Potiphar's house and a prison before it took him to the palace and the fulfillment of God's plan for his life. The plan of God took Abraham away from his home not knowing where he was going. God's plan took Moses before Pharaoh ten times. His plan took Mary to a stable in Bethlehem in order to give birth to the Savior of the world. The plan of God took Paul through perils, shipwreck, beatings and prison. The plan of God took the apostles into persecution and eventually martyrdom. Even our beloved Savior Jesus fulfilled the plan of God through death on the cross.

God's plan never takes us in a straight line from point A to point B. It often takes us up then down. It very often takes us from the mountaintop to the valley, from the wilderness to the fiery furnace. So don't think it strange if God's plan doesn't unfold or come about in the way you thought it should. Don't think you have missed it if there is hardship or discomfort involved. It doesn't always just "fall into your lap". It doesn't always come without some pain and suffering attached to it. It doesn't always come without affliction. But when you see the plan unfold and God is glorified through it, it will be worth it all. The joy of giving birth to the Messiah outweighed the discomfort of the long journey to the stable, and the labor and delivery that Mary went through to fulfill God's plan. The delivery of a nation from bondage outweighed the burden that Moses when through to fulfill God's plan. The joy of having sons and daughters born into the Kingdom of God outweighed the suffering that Jesus went through on the cross in fulfilling God's plan. The joy that you will receive once you reach the place of fulfilling God's plan will outweigh the pain, the suffering, the hard journey and the struggle that you had to go through in order to fulfill it.

Have a great day. God's plan isn't always easy, but it is worth whatever we have to go through to fulfill it.

For further reading:
2 Corinthians 11:20-28; 4:17
Genesis 39:1
Hebrews 12:2
Matthew 4:1

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Coffee Break is a morning devotional written by Lorraine Ezell
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