Being in the new year, I find myself overwhelmed at how daunting everything feels. As I’ve gotten older, time continues to feel faster and more fleeting. Even still, a year is a long time for me. I think about everything I wanted to do last year, many of which have rolled over into this year. I wish to write more. I wish to spend more alone time with God. I wish to be more consistent with these devotionals (already messed that one up). I wish to grow my relationships. I wish to work out and eat better. I wish to spend more time with my pets. I wish to do more engineering projects. And, if I’m being honest, I wish to have more time to play videogames.

All this is certainly possible in a year, even with the challenges life throws at us. I’d bet most of us have goals that are actually attainable. The problem is with the how. We have a specific way we want things done, but God may have another.

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV) – “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV) – “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”

To be clear, the problem doesn’t start with our methods. Sometimes our goals themselves do not align with God’s plan. Such as when my desire for a spouse overshadows my focus on him. But I think for the believer, our methods pose a bigger risk than our goals. We become so focused on getting things done our way, we forget to trust God. I know I write about this a lot, and I likely will for a while to come. It is a constant struggle in my own life, and I imagine in the lives of many others.

I thought of an analogy the other day about our view of God. If you look at the sun (which I don’t recommend doing without protection), it appears to be very small and very far away. Escaping its light seems easy enough, just step under any tree or into any building. We love the sun, and all it provides, but we’re not so fond of its ability to burn us. So we treat it with just enough respect to avoid any immediate pain, and then focus more on our lives here on earth. After all, the world is so big and expansive!

God, like the sun, is not small. Nor is he as distant as he may appear. If we compare the actual size of the sun to the size of earth, it’s astounding how much larger the sun truly is. That’s not even getting into all the stars, many of which are far bigger than our tiny little sun.

(Images found on Google.)

And even as far away from the sun as we are, we constantly feel the warmth and energy coming from it. God too is surrounding us in his energy, his love. If we don’t embrace him, we lose out on something far greater than sunlight. And if we don’t respect him as our maker and judge, we face something far worse than any sunburn.

That probably feels intimidating, maybe even terrifying to think about. Especially since this devotional began with a focus on getting away from feeling overwhelmed. But let’s go back and re-read Jeremiah 29:11 again.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

This was originally written to a group of God’s own chosen, intentionally singled out of a big world to be his direct followers. Those people were in pain. They had been exiled from their homeland, God even states in this chapter that it was he who exiled them. They had turned from him, as we are prone to doing, and so they paid the price. How much must it have stung, to feel as though they were in opposition to an all powerful God? To feel separated, abandoned, overwhelmed? And yet even here, despite their pain and their wrongs, God offers encouragement. He has not forgotten them, he has not stopped loving them, and he still has good plans for them.

He has good plans for you too.

God didn’t create us to watch us suffer, he created us to thrive. Not to thrive in a broken world, but to thrive despite a broken world. It won’t be all sunshine and rainbows, but it will be used for good. So let’s take a moment as we look to this new year, and just take a deep breath. It isn’t on us to make all our dreams and ambitions succeed. It’s on us to serve God, and to trust him with both our needs and desires.

1 John 5:14 (ESV) – And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

God loves you, he loves us, and we’ll get through this new year together. 🙂