The Best Laid Plans....

The Scottish poet Robert Burns is often quoted as saying, "The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley."  This quote is taken from his poem 'To A Mouse" and even though, with my rich Scottish heritage I don't often go around quoting this famous Scots son, I have to say that anyone that pens a poem in praise of a mouse can't be all that bad.  Although, having said that, he also wrote a poem about a louse (one is a louse... two is lice!) that he saw on a lady's bonnet at church... I think Robert Burns was a bit of a rascal... but I digress.

The other day, while in the middle of yet another "Oh, Lord, what do I do now?" moment, I began to giggle when this quote of Robert Burns popped into my mind.  I was giggling because Robert Burns is fondly known among his brethren as 'Rabbi Burns' which, although spelled the same does not sound at all like the Hebrew title of rabbi.  Jesus was called 'rabbi', which means teacher, and because Jesus is God, what better teacher could we possibly have?

God tells us in His Word that,

 "The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." 

                                                                      Proverbs 16:9

"Many are the plans in a man's heart, but the counsel of the Lord will stand."

                                                                       Proverbs 19:21

We live in the midst of a culture today that for the most part determines what it does, based on how it feels. Even those who have professed to following Jesus have at times determined that because something has now become difficult, uncomfortable, or inconvenient, it must not be God's will or direction after all.  I do not find that mirrored anywhere in Scripture.

And so, as small as the glitch was that I found myself in the middle of the other day, it was actually quite big because I believed with all my heart that this is what God had laid before me to do... it's just that in the 'doing' it seemed that I had come to a screeching halt and "Oh, Lord, what do I do now?" was almost a query on my part that perhaps I had misunderstood and now that it looked impossible, and now that it was hard, perhaps I was to just lay it down and walk away.  Nope.

You see, Robert Burns was right, the best laid schemes of mice and men do often go awry, because they are simply mice, because we are simply men... and women.  And yet, as men and women, God has given us the wonderful gift of being able to plan, of being able to dream, and wonder of wonders, He has given us, through Christ, the ability to lay those plans and dreams down before Him so that He alone can direct our steps and give us the counsel that will stand and not "gang aft agley".

God's direction for our lives may not always be without difficulty, as a matter of fact, He has told us to expect difficulties and hardships.  God's direction in our lives may not always be agreeable to those around us, or understandable. However, because the counsel of the Lord will stand, long after man's opinions and preferences have passed away... I choose to continue to cry out, "Oh, Lord, what do I do now?"

And in answer to my prayer I believe that God  whispered to my heart... "you're doing it child, you're doing it...."