Change of Plans

“My plans aren’t your plans,
nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.
Just as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways,
and my plans than your plans.” Isaiah 55:8-9 CEB

How fragile our plans are! They are the tiny gossamer strands of a spider’s web, broken, blowing loose and out of control, no longer attached to the carefully sought out surroundings.

How often our plans are ruptured, torn asunder; what seemed sturdy and sure, come undone.

This has been a year of changing plans. Mine is as simple and non-life-threatening as a diagnosed infected appendix. Surgery was suddenly scheduled and performed, and I sit safely at home with pain medications and instructions to drink lots of liquids, rest, and walk. Plans for the upcoming weeks have been rescheduled or postponed as I wait for this miraculous body God created to heal. It is a mandated pause. Slow down. Be still and know that I Am God.

All around me, there have been broken plans with devastating outcomes. At 21 weeks, the little girl stopped breathing within her mother’s womb. The mystery of recurring blood clots led to a cancer diagnosis. Spinal damage from a fall refuses to heal completely, so they must navigate new modes of mobility. The kidney is deteriorating. He is still without a job after 10 months of searching. We look at these big overwhelming disappointments and hold our breath, keeping our prayers silent, soaking in despair and discouragement.

I am reminded of the little changes of plans that disappoint our little ones. They seem so small and insignificant to us: he missed the baseball game because the roads were closed, the bonfire was cancelled because the temperatures dropped, and the winds blew. The tests were harder than expected, and grades plummeted. She wasn’t invited to the party.

Change of plans. We are not alone in our dark rooms of disappointment. Teach your children well. We are not promised all pleasant situations all the time. Sit down and look closely at what just fell on your head. Ask God how to keep your eyes on Him and His plans instead.

My mother suddenly became a widow in her 20s. She had an almost 3-year-old and a just-turned 5-year-old. She temporarily lived with her parents on their dairy farm in Greenville while her husband flew jets over foreign lands. His body was never found, so she had three years of waiting. A change of plans, uncertainty. In the waiting, she built a fortress of strength and determination resting on God’s plans, not her own.

As our days rush toward angel song, decorated trees, wrapped gifts in remembrance of the Magi, those mysterious visitors from the east who followed the unusual star in the heavens, I am reminded of a young Hebrew girl named Mary. She didn’t appear to be outstanding in any way. Yet, she was chosen by God and visited by Gabriel, the angel who stood in the presence of God. And her plans suddenly changed.

If you feel like shaking your fist at God, you can stand beside this young girl with a future ahead of her. Unmarried, yet promised in marriage. Suddenly, with no logical explanation, a seed is growing within her. Who would possibly believe her unbelievable explanation? Shame upon the family. Shame on her husband to be. Shame upon her. Shame upon the child she carried. There would be no recovery from her destroyed reputation; she would always be a cheat, disloyal, disrespectful, and a liar. Might as well stone her and get it over with. Joseph thinks about his options to separate himself from her. But God.

God shows up with His better plan. It will not go smoothly. It will not end well. But it will unfold, just the same. Nothing, absolutely nothing, can stop it. The well-written Hallmark movie ending will crumble and bleed on an executioner’s cross. And those broken plans held closely in Mary’s heart will find an ending in brilliant light, angel choirs singing Hallelujah, the breath of life, the destruction of death for all eternity.

Our fragile human plans break and tear. God has something better. His plans. Cast your broken plans behind you. Keep your eyes on the One who brings light and love and life eternal. His plan is good. It will not be shaken.

And this was His good Plan:

1“Come, all you who are thirsty,
    come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
    Come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
    without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money on what is not bread,
    and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
    and you will delight in the richest of fare.
3 Give ear and come to me;
    listen, that you may live.
I will make an everlasting covenant with you,
    my faithful love promised to David.
4 See, I have made him a witness to the peoples,
    a ruler and commander of the peoples.
5 Surely you will summon nations you know not,
    and nations you do not know will come running to you,
because of the Lord your God,
    the Holy One of Israel,
    for he has endowed you with splendor.”

6 Seek the Lord while he may be found;
    call on him while he is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake their ways
    and the unrighteous their thoughts.
Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them,
    and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

8 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
9 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 As the rain and the snow
    come down from heaven,
and do not return to it
    without watering the earth
and making it bud and flourish,
    so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,
11 so is my word that goes out from my mouth:
    It will not return to me empty,
but will accomplish what I desire
    and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.
12 You will go out in joy
    and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and hills
    will burst into song before you,
and all the trees of the field
    will clap their hands.
13 Instead of the thornbush will grow the juniper,
    and instead of briers the myrtle will grow.
This will be for the Lord’s renown,
    for an everlasting sign,
    that will endure forever.” Isaiah 55 NIV

Question: Have your plans been changed in a heartbreaking way? How do you move forward?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5-qFiyJusk

Matt Maher Gabriel’s Message

JesusGeorgia TannerDecember 15, 2025Comment