You have an idea. You feel called to your purpose. You start out with excitement and imagine great things to come. Then you hit a roadblock. Many decisions have to be made. Which way do you go when no way is exactly right? What if you make the wrong choice? Your progress is threatened. What will you do? God must be against your project! You are tempted to quit. Maybe you should quit.
Roadblocks
Roadblocks cause stress that can distract you from your goal. For every good plan there is wisdom to navigate each roadblock. Accept the good plan to which you are called, and pray in faith for the wisdom that God will give in answer to each roadblock.
You don’t know the future.
The end product of your plan may hardly resemble the image in your mind at the beginning or even along the way, but your good plan will have a good product if you proceed in wisdom and faith. The end product may turn out to be greater than you could have imagined.
I didn’t make this up. King Solomon wrote it in the 10th Century BCE for me to read in the 21st Century CE . Take a tip from Solomon.
“A wise man’s heart perceives both occasion and procedure because to every purpose there is occasion and procedure; therefore the distress of man is great upon him because he does not know the future.” Ecclesiastes 8:5-7
Okay, I know that’s not exactly the King James Version. I don’t even know if any version translates it quite like I have. You decide whether or not I have translated accurately. Here you go; below is the KJV with portions of Strong’s definitions inserted in brackets.
“…a wise man’s heart discerneth [perceives] both time [occurrence; occasion; season]
and judgment [process; procedure] because to every purpose [desire, plan was my word]
there is time [occasion; season] and judgment [process; procedure];
therefore the misery [distress] of man is great upon him.
For he knoweth not that which shall be, for who can tell him when it shall be?”
Ecclesiastes 8:5-7
STRESS!!! I can’t take it!
Solomon understood the stress of a big project. He was responsible for building the Temple with its massive columns, the huge brass pool held up by twelve gigantic brass oxen, and the two cherubim overlaid in gold stretching from wall to wall (I Kings chapter 6). He also built cities, fortifications, and towers throughout his kingdom, including the surrounding nations of his dominion.
Okay, Solomon knew stress. How did he deal with it?
Solomon said a man gets distressed because he doesn’t know the future.
-What if this? or What if that?- So what did Solomon do to relieve his stress?
Solomon prayed for wisdom. We know his prayer, recorded in I Kings 3:5-15. As the crown of his father King David was placed on his head, the responsibility of leadership weighed heavily upon him. Did God hear and answer young Solomon’s prayer?
“And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. And Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt … and his fame was in all nations round about.
[He wrote books of philosophy, music, and science]… And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom.”
1 Kings 4:29-34
Are you under stress? Do you fret over the “what-if’s”? The opportunity for wisdom is yours too.
Wisdom? Me???
“If any of you lack wisdom,
let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.
But let him ask in faith”
James 1:5-6
Has God called you to a task? Take the bull by the horns.
Jesus said it this way.
“So then, do not worry about tomorrow,
for tomorrow will worry about itself. Today has enough trouble of its own.”
Matthew 6:34, New English Translation
Do you get it? Every day has its own roadblocks. You will get stressed out trying to figure out tomorrow’s difficulties today, before you really know exactly what they will be. Remember, nobody knows the future.
It is good to have a plan, a project, a purpose. Even God has plans. “I have formulated a plan, yes, I will carry it out.” Isaiah 46:11, NET Planning is not evil. Planning is not “taking thought for tomorrow” that Jesus warned about.
So what do we do?
The Plan + Wisdom and Faith = Great End Product
- Hear a call, get an idea.
- Each day pray for wisdom to accomplish the work of that day.
- Each day accomplish something toward your
- Tackle roadblocks one at a time as they come.
A day will dawn when you realize the job is done. You may be amazed at the end product.
“A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work.
This too, I see, is from the hand of God”
Ecclesiastes 2:24, NIV
Solomon knew what he was talking about!
The Word in Vision 