Plans Made Long Ago

Plans Made Long Ago

Isaiah 25:1 – O LORD, you are my God! I will exalt you in praise, I will extol your fame. For you have done extraordinary things, and executed plans made long ago exactly as you decreed. 2 – Indeed, you have made the city into a heap of rubble, the fortified town into a heap of ruins; the fortress of foreigners is no longer a city, it will never be rebuilt. 3 – So a strong nation will extol you; the towns of powerful nations will fear you. 4 – For you are a protector for the poor, a protector for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the rainstorm, a shade from the heat. though the breath of tyrants is like a winter rainstorm, 5 – like heat in a dry land, you humble the boasting foreigners. Just as the shadow of a cloud causes the heat to subside, so he causes the song of tyrants to cease.

Sometimes it seems as though our lives are greatly affected by powerful people in the world.  They make their laws and in an instant our borders are open or closed; the prices of things triple; and we begin to wonder where our freedoms have gone.

These verses are an encouragement for me and hopefully for you that even though we may be caught in the blast of rhetoric from our leaders crying one thing but delivering another – we don’t have to worry.  God is our protector when we are poor.  He is our protector when we are in distress.  He is our shelter when the rainstorm of foolish decisions threatens to beat down our lives.  Jesus is our windbreak.  He is our shade.  He is our umbrella. 

Our world leaders may be making unrealistic plans today – but these verses tell me that God is already executing plans that He made long ago.  Plans that will take place exactly as He has decreed. 

“For I know what I have planned for you,” says the LORD, “I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you a future filled with hope. When you call out to me and come to  me in prayer, I will hear your prayers. When you seek me in prayer and worship, you will find me available to you. If you seek me with all your heart and soul,.” – Jeremiah 29:11-13.