Dharius Daniels - Moving On From The Life You Thought You Wanted - Part 2

All right, well, Jude chapter 1, verse 9 says, «But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not himself dare to condemn him for slander but said these words: 'The Lord rebuke you.'» This is the reading of God’s Word. I want to talk for a few moments from this topic today: «Moving on from the life you thought you wanted: Part Two.» If you’re old school, it’s the remix; if you’re new school, it’s a continuation from last week.

Family, there is an aspect and an attribute of our eternal God that I’d like to offer up in this introduction. It is an aspect of God’s existence that is not overtly spiritual, but it is uniquely important, and that is, among all other things, God is a planner. Somebody say «planner.» By that, I’m simply suggesting that God does not act reactively or impulsively. I’m arguing—and contending—that God is strategic, intentional, and methodical in executing His intentions for His people. Whatever is a surprise to you is not a surprise to Him because God is a planner.

Scripture corroborates this in the book of Jeremiah, chapter 29. God burdens the heart of a prophet named Jeremiah with a message for His people who are experiencing exile. They are oppressed, suppressed, and depressed; their lives are unraveling. They would dub and designate that season as the worst period in their lives—ripped from their homeland, ripped from their religion, and ripped from their relationships. In the midst of what is seemingly the worst season of their lives, God gives a messenger a message for His people—a message that is tailor-made for their situation, a revelation that is going to bring them elevation.

God tells Jeremiah to tell the people who are weeping, wounded, and worn, «For I know the plans I have for you.» He said, «You’re crying, but I have a plan. You’re upset, but I have a plan. You’re confused, but I have a plan. You’re disappointed, but I have a plan. You are hurting, but I have a plan.» He didn’t say «we know, ” and he didn’t say „you know, ” but he did say „I know.“ And when it’s time for you to know, I’ll let you know. But what you need to know is I’ve got a plan, and I’m not going to tell you what the plan is, but I am going to tell you what the plan does. He says, „The plans I have for you will prosper you. It may pain you in the present, but it will prosper you in the future. Prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.“

Isn’t that exciting to know that in the midst of our misery, God, the Master, has a plan? Because God is a planner. The parting of the Red Sea was God executing a plan. The falling of the walls of Jericho was God executing a plan. The giving of the law was God executing a plan. The Hebrew boys coming out of the fiery furnace was God executing a plan. Daniel coming out of the lion’s den was God executing a plan. The birth, the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus was God executing a plan. The Bible says that the Lamb of God was slain before the foundation of the world, which means that God created the answer before the devil created the problem. Did you hear what I just said? God is a planner par excellence, and when God makes provision for His people according to His plan, there’s a term we use in academic theological circles to describe it—we call it Providence.

God’s providence is a synthesis of two words: Pro, meaning before, and video, meaning to see. God sees it before you see it; He sees it before it happens, and so He plans according to what He sees, not according to what we see. Because we can see to the corner, God can see around it. We can see to the hill; God can see over the hill. We can see today; God can see tomorrow, and God plans based on what God sees. It’s the principle of perspective.

The principle of perspective: where you sit determines what you see, and what you see determines what you do. Where you sit determines what you see, and what you see determines what you do. Where you sit determines what you see, and what you see determines what you do. Sometimes we don’t understand what God’s doing because we’re not seeing what God is seeing. And we’re not seeing what God is seeing because we’re not sitting where God is sitting. He sits high and looks low, and when you sit high, you have a different vantage point. Family, God has plans for us.

The contention with what I’m communicating, though, is this: God’s not the only one that has plans for us. We have plans for ourselves. I like this side today, y’all; I feel real over here. I said we have plans for ourselves. We have plans for ourselves. We have—right? We talked about this last week. We have expectations for our lives. Some of those expectations are unspoken; we haven’t communicated them, but we still expect them. Some of those expectations are unconscious. We don’t know we were expecting something until we didn’t get it, and then we got mad about it, right? How many know it’s possible to not even realize you were expecting a text from a certain person on your birthday until your birthday came, and they didn’t even text you? You’re like, „Wait a minute, you didn’t even text me! I didn’t ask you to put anything in the cash app; I just asked you to text me.“ We can have expectations unconsciously about what our professional lives should have been.