God Laughs

I'm sure you have probably heard this Yiddish Proverb, 

Man plans. God laughs.

I was reminded of this familiar saying as I was reading in the book of Psalms today. 


Read and ponder upon these words from Psalm 2 (NLT) :

 ¹ Why are the nations so angry? 
      Why do they waste their time with futile plans? 
 ² The kings of the earth prepare for battle; 
      the rulers plot together 
   against the LORD 
      and against his anointed one. 
 ³ “Let us break their chains,” they cry, 
      “and free ourselves from slavery to God.”

 ⁴ But the one who rules in heaven laughs.
      The Lord scoffs at them. 
 ⁵ Then in anger he rebukes them,
      terrifying them with his fierce fury.
 ⁶ For the Lord declares, “I have placed my chosen king on the throne 
      in Jerusalem,^[a] on my holy mountain.”

 ⁷ The king proclaims the LORD’s decree:
   “The LORD said to me, ‘You are my son.^[b]
      Today I have become your Father.^[c]
 8 Only ask, and I will give you the nations as your inheritance,
      the whole earth as your possession.
 ⁹ You will break^[d] them with an iron rod
      and smash them like clay pots.’”

 ¹⁰ Now then, you kings, act wisely!
      Be warned, you rulers of the earth!
 ¹¹ Serve the LORD with reverent fear,
      and rejoice with trembling.
 ¹² Submit to God’s royal son,^[e] or he will become angry,
      and you will be destroyed in the midst of all your activities—
   for his anger flares up in an instant. 
      But what joy for all who take refuge in him!

Wow! What a strong passage of scripture! This Psalm clearly puts us in our place. How many times have we attempted to "free ourselves from slavery to God." This may not be something we do intentionally, but we do it nonetheless. We make our own plans for our lives. We try so hard to create some security for ourselves, to set ourselves up to live a life of success and prosperity. We don't pray about our decisions. We don't search the scriptures to see if our plans line up with God's plans. We simply live our lives our own way with no regard for God or anyone else. Even those of us who have believed and accepted Christ as our Savior have found ourselves in this position, blind to the sovereignty of God over our lives.

Dictionary.com defines sovereign as:

adjective

5.

belonging to or characteristic of a sovereign or sovereignty; royal.

6.

having supreme rank, power, or authority.

7.

supreme; preeminent; indisputable: a sovereign right.

8.

greatest in degree; utmost or extreme.

9.

being above all others in character, importance, excellence,etc.

So when the Bible tells us that God is sovereign, it means that He has supreme authority over all things...that He is indisputable. In short, God is in control! That is why He laughs when we make plans!


Study this photo:

 When the developers and landscapers planned out this park, they planned for trees to line the sides of the creek, and at first, this tree stood tall and firm on the embankment as they had planned. However, repeated storms came and eroded the the bank under the tree. High winds came that caused the tree to tilt, and finally other foliage grew up around it keeping the sun's rays from effectively reaching it in it's fallen state. However, God in His infinite wisdom allowed the sun to shine through on the other side of the creek, and the tree began to grow in that direction, stretching out it's branches to receive more and more of the sunlight from the opposite side of the creek.


How similar is this illustration to our lives! We start out with our own plans, but God laughs because He knows that He has better plans and He is the one in control. So He causes storms of difficulty to come up in our lives in order to bring us to a place where we realize that we must conform to His plans to thrive! All the while, he shapes us into the unique creations that He planned for us to be all along, and like that tree, we become beautiful examples of a life changed by God.


Listen to how the Amplified Bible puts the last line of Psalm 2:

...O blessed (happy, fortunate, and to be envied) are all those who seek refuge and put their trust in Him!

Now read Psalm 3 from the Amplified Bible:

A Psalm of David. When he fled from Absalom his son.

 ¹LORD, HOW they are increased who trouble me! Many are they who rise up against me.

    ²Many are saying of me, There is no help for him in God. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

    ³But You, O Lord, are a shield for me, my glory, and the lifter of my head.

    ⁴With my voice I cry to the Lord, and He hears and answers me out of His holy hill. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

    ⁵I lay down and slept; I wakened again, for the Lord sustains me.

    ⁶I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people who have set themselves against me round about.

    ⁷Arise, O Lord; save me, O my God! For You have struck all my enemies on the cheek; You have broken the teeth of the ungodly.

    ⁸Salvation belongs to the Lord; May Your blessing be upon Your people. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!

 What happens when we stop making plans for ourselves and start trusting the Lord??

He SUSTAINS us! 

I don't know about you, but I could use some sustaining!!