Sovereignty

Sovereignty

unexpected changes
plans gone awry
why do these things happen?
who changes things?

plans run their perfect course
providence knows best
unexpected changes
Heaven's favorite test

--
I wrote that poem several years ago.
But I wanted to share it with you.

I wrote it on October 2nd, 2001. I was on a plane, heading home from Israel: the Land of the Bible. I had arrived there on September 2nd, 2001 planning, expecting and hoping to spend an entire semester there--traveling, studying, learning, touring, exploring, growing...enjoying the Land of the Bible...the Land of Israel. But 9 days after we arrived was September 11th, 2001--a tragedy of grand proportions. And soon afterward we were told that we would have to leave: something unexpected, something I did not plan, something I did not want. Plans seemed to have gone awry.

But God had it all planned out. In His book had been written every one of my days, even before they happened (Psalm 139:16). This was no surprise to Him. This was plans running their perfect course. As I was writing this poem I was trying to see it that way. I knew it was His perfect plan. Yet I still wanted to be in the Land of the Bible. What a wonderful place it is! To be able to travel to a specific geographic site, open up your Bible and read about what happened there. You can read about hills or valleys or rivers that were climbed or drank out of, or where battles took place, and you look up, and there it is! God's Word is true! How awesome it was to see these places with my own eyes! I loved it. I still remember it and wish I could go again.

Yet, God allowed me one month there. That was His plan. It wasn't mine. But I must learn that He is sovereign and I am not. And that's a good thing!