Day 7

"That Didn't Work Out
Like I Thought It Would"

Exodus 5:1-23


In 1983 I got the opportunity
to go on a mission trip to Brazil.
It was short-notice and I would
need more than $2000, of which I had none!
I felt led by God to go, so I signed
on and began to try to raise funding.

I made a list of family, friends, and former churches
that I thought might donate some to the trip.
I even tried to estimate just how
much each “source” might give.
For reasons I'll not go into,
I could not ask my current
church to help out, but I hoped I might
get a little from a few of the folks anyway.

By the time I left on the trip,
it was all paid for!
However, all my planning had
been turned completely upside down!
Many of the sources I had hoped
for either did not come through
or gave much less than I had thought.
As for the bulk of my funding?
It came from the church I
could not ask for help! God
led them to give without my asking!

In Moses’ case, he thought it
would go smoothly with Pharaoh,
but it got worse instead.
God had other plans. Eventually,
it all worked out, but like
my mission trip, not the way he thought.
It just proves again what God
says about our thoughts -
they just aren't as high as His.
He knows and does what is best,
despite our limited “sight.”

Prayer: Dear Lord, help us to just seek
your will and then follow your leading
and let you take care of the
details that we can't control anyway.
To trust and obey is always the
better way - even when it doesn't
go the way we thought it should.


P.S. Consider the story in John 11,
about the death of Lazarus.
When Lazarus got deathly ill, his
sisters sent for their friend Jesus,
hoping He would come quickly and
heal their brother. Jesus delayed
His coming and by the time He arrived,
Lazarus had been dead four days.

The sisters were distraught and did
not understand why Jesus had not come sooner.
Jesus had a better plan. He raised
Lazarus from the dead! What a blessing!
What a testimony Lazarus had after that!
Had Jesus only healed Lazarus, many would
not have even attributed the healing to God.
But there was no denying the
miracle of a resurrection!

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