Does God Have a Plan for our Lives?

Recently I read a blog by a woman who doesn't believe that God has a plan for our lives.  She says that we take Scriptures out of context and she used Jeremiah 29:11 as one of them. 

Jer 29:11    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 hope and a future. NIV

She believes that the above verse only applied to the people of Judah who were in exile, and was offered only to them to comfort them. She believes it is not to be taken literally for the rest of us, and if we believe that it is, we have taken it out of context.  She goes on to suggest that there were only a select few who were blessed enough to hear from God in regards to a plan for their life (Mary, Moses, and Billy Graham are examples she used).   She thinks that the rest of us are just ordinary and God isn't at all concerned about what we do with our lives.  Although she does say some good things at the very end, overall, reading this article brought me immediate caution and I sensed that she had not thoroughly researched the Bible (in fact she never even quoted a single verse beyond Jeremiah 29:11) to give a balanced view of such an important topic.  For days after that, the Holy Spirit kept giving me verses and bringing me into truth regarding the topic of His plan for our lives.  So I am now sharing some of what He has been putting on my heart.  

To begin, I'd like to say that Jeremiah 29:11 has been true in my own life for as long as I've lived.  If being prosperous is measured by having mounds of money, I have experienced this for no more than short spans of time, but I have certainly prospered in many ways in my life.  In fact, my present life is very much the "future" life I prayed for and envisioned several years ago that God perfectly put together (mainly providing my husband and the opportunity to write full time).  It all came about in God's timing and not my own and I had to wait for it.  I continue to trust Him for the fulfillment of my envisioned future, and I am confident that He will bring the desires of my heart to pass, as He's always been faithful to do in the past.   I look to Him every single day to guide my path and continue to inspire me to fulfil my "calling" to write.  I know there are countless others who have a similar testimony that God is working out or has worked out His plan for their lives.  The day we stop believing in that is the day that, I believe, we have made a decision to turn away or walk away from God and go our own way. 

Interestingly, Jeremiah 29:11 in the KJV of the Bible says something different than the NIV: 

Jer 29:11    For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. 

It uses the word "thoughts," and not "plans."  The gist of it is the same in that His thoughts towards us are only good, and not evil, and that we can trust Him for a bright future.  God is very specific when it comes to letting us know we can never reach His level of thought, as in the following:   

Isa 55:8    For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.  Isa 55:9    For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.   

Most of us have some kind of plan for our lives.  We have some idea what we want to or need to achieve in life. But things don’t always turn out the way we thought or planned, and so we start to question God as to why.  Sometimes in our failure to understand why, we immediately blame God.  We fail to realize that God's thoughts are so much higher and greater and broader and deeper, we can't even begin to grasp the Greatness of His mind, and then think that He should have done something we wanted in our time and in our way.  That is nothing short of self-centered pride.  Of course, He doesn't want us to suffer undue harm or be overcome by failure and grief.  Many Scriptures confirm this.  Yet, in the blog I read something to the effect that if God had a plan for our lives, then why are people suffering so much, especially children?  Or why are single people not meeting their life partner, and so they live alone and die alone?  These are classic questions similar to what the unsaved ask.  They ask, "If there is a God, why is there so much suffering and pain in the world?"  It's really a way to avoid the personal - perhaps they have lost a loved one and can't get over their grief.  Or perhaps they have failed at their marriage and their career.  Perhaps they are always sick and can't seem to get well.  So they blame God.  It is like saying, "God plays favorites.  Some succeed, while many others don't."  So it is easier just to keep laying the blame on God, rather than doing something about it. 

It is easy to fall victim to becoming a victim if we fail to believe that God loves us and, as Jeremiah 29:11 says, only wants us to succeed and not fail in life.  What father would want failure for His child?  How much more does God want us to succeed?  Look at these verses: 

Mat 7:7    Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: Mat 7:8    For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Mat 7:9    Or what man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread, will he give him a stone? Mat 7:10    Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent? Mat 7:11    If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him? 

This doesn't mean we will have a pain-free, trouble-free life.  No one has that!  We are told to expect trials, tribulations, and troubles from every side.  We are also given the strength and the wisdom (if we ask) to get through each problem.  Many times God will provide an escape, as He promised in I Cor. 10:13. 

Does God care about our needs?  Yes, I believe He does according to the following: 

1Pe 5:7    Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. 

It's because He cares so intensely about us that He does have a plan for our lives, and His plan has to do with relationship and trust.  This all comes about and is revealed bit by bit when we sincerely seek Him and commune with Him.  We may not have the exact reason or answer for everything that does (or doesn’t) happen to us, but God does speak to us, lead us, guide and direct us.  All we have to do is ask and believe, listen and obey.  The question is – are we asking, seeking, listening, and are we expecting an answer from Him according to Jeremiah 29:11, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.