Guide

I love the idea that there's a God who's got a plan for me. The Bible says it in a few places.

Here's a very familiar example:

"''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 a hope and a future.'" - Jeremiah 29:11

It's the sort of Bible verse I held onto as a young teenager and naively believed to be literally true; that my God would make me an successful, amazing human who didn't experience negativity.

As a 20-something (with only a little more wisdom and a couple of wisdom teeth) I look with new eyes at this verse and it's something I wrestle with, rather than trust.

Because I have failed not prospered in so many areas of life. I have been hurt by the world; by people who I've trusted; by experiences not being what I expected. And I'm angry at the 'false promises' of the Bible who told me everything would be okay.

Except, did it? Did it really?

It's tempting, and easy, to imagine God as a magician who should stop bad things from happening by flicking a wand. It's equally tempting, and easy, to think that God's plan (singular) is one where we wait passively and expect everything to work out fine.

Maybe this is the reason we're so disheartened when things go wrong. Maybe we see God as the controller rather than the guide.

Guide: "a person who shows the way to others, especially one employed to show tourists around places of interest.'"

If God was in control utterly, why is there so much wisdom in the Bible about discerning what is good and right? I like the metaphor of God as a tour guide, who's showing us a way to do things but not shoving it down our throats. And let's stick with the tour guide metaphor for a bit. Because a good tour guide isn't one who forces their tour party to traipse around without letting the individuals in it make some choices too. A good tour guide doesn't do all the talking or the leading, but leaves space for questions and allows individuals to choose what's best for them out of some different options.

I wonder if God is a bit like that.

Back to Jeremiah 29, because the following verses are arguably better than the one above:

"Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

Something exciting happens when we stop being passive and seek out God. Look how many times these verses say 'you'. That's us. Yes, something exciting happens when we stop expecting God's plans to simply happen, but when we as humans engage with God's character in its fullness. To keep seeking that God. That character that we can be thankful for when we finally get that job, or that character we don't understand when everything is going wrong and falling apart.

I think God can handle the difficult prayers. Perhaps the God in Jeremiah 29 is actually challenging us to ask for answers when we have big questions. To pray big prayers. 

Recently I've been realising that God's plan isn't always singular. The plans are flexible, fluid and there may be a couple of options. One profession may glorify God, but so could another. One place might be the right place to live out God's plan, but so might another. So I'm trusting God as a tour guide and not a controller. One who's not forcing me down one road but is giving me space to choose; because my God has given enough advice and is enabling me to use my brain (and my heart) to make my own decisions.