Anyone who has ever put a business strategy/plan together usually has the details worked out already so the end result will be positive. Of course that isn’t always the case, because we can’t foresee certain obstacles that might come between our plan and the final outcome. What does it mean to have the “best case scenario” when it comes to our life? You can’t find the words best-case scenario in a dictionary, but you can find a similar thought that we could associate with it. It would be “optimum outcome” as opposed to the worst case scenario which would be everything going wrong and not according to the plan.
I’ve tried to orchestrate my life, according to my dreams, wishes, and desires. But when things didn’t happen according to the way I wanted it to, I became despondent at times. Certain aspects of my life are okay, but it isn’t completely like I planned it.
Is this where I find myself then, starting to doubt God when things don’t go according to MY plans? I pray “where are you God?” and sometimes even “why don’t you answer me God”? I just don’t understand why this is happening.
Sound familiar? I know I have prayed that prayer too often and if I am perfectly honest, I sometimes slip back into that thought process when I am becoming overwhelmed with where my life is. In the grand scheme of planning my life, I didn’t always seek His desire for me before my own? The optimum outcome without God is we are born, have an unscarred childhood, finish school, meet and marry someone( and stay married if we are lucky) have a family, keep our job, save a little bit of money( but seemingly never enough) and maintain some semblance of a healthy life before we die. Some 4 score and 10 years as they Bible records a lifespan. Of course, along the way, hearts are broken, health disappears, jobs get taken away, banks keep taking our money, along with increasing taxes and cost of living it is often hard just surviving. Wow, the best-case scenario isn’t looking too good at all.
But WITH JESUS the best-case scenario is completely different. Start at the beginning and acknowledge that He gave us life, choosing the time we would be born, our parents, our country, our very DNA. Although we may experience many of the same things, when the enemy tries to discourage us with these trials, He is there to walk beside us, and carry us through. If we choose to study His word, and pray( talk to Him) we would be less discouraged. The Bible is full of encouragement, guidance and help, and we will learn to trust His plan for us and we are guaranteed our faith will grow.
James 1:2 Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
Even when I don’t understand the whys of my life, and don’t get the answers I want, trusting my life to God helps me grow stronger. No one likes trials, but knowing that we are not alone in them, knowing God is right there beside us, and we are being strengthened by the very One who created us is comforting.
2 Corinthians 4:17,18 says
17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.q 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen,r since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
A life with Jesus is our best-case scenario. It is why this world has lasted these 6 thousand plus years. Jesus wants everyone who can, to have a best-case scenario outcome. He sees us trying to do it ourselves and the outcome just never seems to turn out right. There is always something off, and it never truly satisfies.
His plan for us is for an eternity with Him. That is way better than any plan we could ever come up with on our own.
1 John 2:17 says “The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.”
Why don’t we set aside the “perfect plan” we have been trying to put into place, and give God the access to our lives, our hearts, our thoughts and our plans. Why don’t we let Him show us what a real best-case scenario looks like.
For I know the plans that I have for you says the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope AND a future. Jeremiah 29:11
Jesus is our best-case scenario….