The LORD will work out his plans for my life—for your faithful love, O LORD, endures forever. Don’t abandon me, for you made me. PSALM 138:8 (NLT)

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It’s a simple question, really. Whose plans are better for me – God’s or mine? This is a Sunday School kind of question. As one little boy said to another, “In this class, the right answer is always Jesus.”

Reading Charles Allen’s God’s Psychiatry last night, he made the point that many people are afraid to say Yes to God’s will because they remember Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. He said Yes and he ended up on the cross.

He also experienced the resurrection and ascension and will come again. Those three world-changing events were made possible by saying Yes to the old rugged cross. Few of us are asked to endure crucifixion. In fact, none of my circle of friends and acquaintances have suffered such an end.

Allen points out that the air we breathe is God’s will for us. There are many other mundane realities that are God’s will for our lives. Good food, good friends, and good work are all God’s will.

Have you considered that the Rocky Mountains are God’s will? Or the South Pacific? Or the heather, hills, and lochs of Scotland? “Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens,” (James 1:17). Yes, the sun, moon, and stars are his will and his gifts to us.

He who loves the whole world so well in a general sense loves each of us particularly. His plans for us are better than our plans for ourselves. The happiness and joy he intends far surpass the passing entertainments of our age.

Here is what we know for sure: God alone loves us supremely and forever. His love is loyal and faithful and seeks our highest and best. The Good Life is discovered not in finding ourselves, but in finding ourselves in the center of God’s good will and plans for our lives.

We are the work of his hands. He created us as works in progress toward becoming masterpieces, trophies of his grace (Ephesians 2:10). We look in the mirror and say, “This is a masterpiece?” God looks at us and sees all we can become by the gracious working out of his plan and purpose for us. Beauty is in the eye of our Beholder.

This line of reasoning could go on for quite a while without fear of exhausting the subject. However, let’s take a deep breath and say to our Father in heaven, “Today, I want you to work out your plan for my life. I am a willing participant. I will cooperate with whatever you want. Show me the way I should go.”

Exchange your worries and fears for the experience of God’s perfect love (1 John 4:18). Watch your ability to love like Jesus expand (1 John 4:17). Learn to live with the confidence of leaning into God’s will, the most loving and satisfying life we could ever hope to experience.

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I will choose God’s will because it is superior to my own.

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Our Father, what you want for me is better than anything I could want for myself. You have seen from eternity past all I could be by your grace and love. This old lump of clay has often thought you were doing it wrong. You are the Potter. I am the clay. You make masterpieces out of dirt and water. I make messes. Take the mess I am and turn it into something only you can take credit for and which displays your artistry. The mountains and waters and skies above joyfully declare your majestic glory. Only you can take a life like mine and make something wonderful, something good. Work out your plan for my life. I am a willing participant with whatever you want. Show me the way I should go. Amen.