Discovering God’s Plan for Your Life

Excerpt from Discovering God’s Plan For Your Life by David Cerullo

Will You Trust God or Circumstances?

As you strive to find and fulfill God’s plan for your life, you’ll inevitably arrive at a crossroads at certain points, forcing you to make a critical choice: Will you trust the Lord or trust your circumstances?

This issue arises when you face a medical crisis…a job loss…conflict in your marriage…or concerns about your children or grandchildren. Will you allow your difficult circumstances to overwhelm you, or will you put your trust in the promises of God?

No one is immune from life’s challenges—not even the children of God. But a flood of difficult circumstances can lift you higher rather than drown you! King David recognized this, and he prayed, “When my heart is overwhelmed…lead me to the rock that is higher than I” (Psalm 61:2).

That’s God’s purpose when you face trials and difficulties. He wants you to rise higher. He wants you to be firmly planted on the rock of His faithfulness to His Word.

The choice of trusting the Lord or our circumstances usually gets down to where our eyes are focused. Hebrews 12:2 says we need to fix our eyes on Jesus, “the author and finisher of our faith.” This is exactly what Peter did when he walked on the water toward Jesus. Everything went fine as long as he looked straight ahead—but he began to sink when his eyes got diverted to the wind and waves around him (Matthew 14:25-31).

Like Peter, we’ve all faced stormy circumstances at times. When our eyes are on Jesus, we can walk above the rough seas. But as Peter discovered, we’ll quickly sink if we focus our attention on how bad our circumstances are.

Relying on Our Faithful God

The Bible provides a record of God’s faithfulness over the course of thousands of years. Time and time again, the Lord has shown His willingness and ability to calm storms and transform troubling circumstances. He has repeatedly taken sinful, defeated, and broken people and given them new beginnings. In fact, He seems to take special delight in the “hard cases,” providing supernatural breakthroughs in seemingly hopeless situations.

So if you’re struggling and feel you may have completely missed God’s plan for your life, take heart. He has promised to complete the good work He has begun in you (Philippians 1:6). No matter what troubling circumstance you find yourself in, there’s an example in the Bible of something much worse that God has rescued His children from:

Joseph was tossed into a well by his brothers, then sold into slavery—freed only to be imprisoned again for a crime he didn’t commit.

God rescued Joseph.

Naomi and Ruth were widows who seemed destined for a life of poverty, loneliness, and obscurity.

God rescued Naomi and Ruth.

David was chased mercilessly by King Saul for several years. After becoming king, David committed adultery and caused the woman’s husband to be murdered.

God rescued David.

The prophet Elijah was so discouraged by Jezebel’s threats that he hid by himself in a cave, where he asked God to take his life.

God rescued Elijah.

Because of their refusal to compromise their convictions, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego were thrown into a fiery furnace.

God rescued Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego.

The prodigal son abandoned his father’s banqueting table and ended up so hungry he wanted to eat the leftovers of the pigs he was feeding.

God illustrated that the prodigal son could be rescued.

Although your circumstances may look dismal, are they any worse than the situations faced by these men and women who God rescued in the past? No matter what your life is like today, the Lord can rescue you. And if you’ve gotten off track in some way, He can get you back on the path to His perfect plan for your life.

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