Your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever. - 2 Samuel 7:16.

Being in the midst of God's plan in my own life I don't always like His plan, and I still enjoy the mountaintops much more than the valleys. If it were up to me, there would only be mountaintop experiences. However, as many have pointed out without the valleys the mountaintops would not be nearly as exhilarating. If it were up to me instead of writing devotionals, which are going out to the world through electronic means, I would be going personally to share those messages. Sometimes I don’t understand why God has me where He has me and why He has sent me to certain places at certain times.

We have been studying the Life of David on Sunday nights (In 2002), and I have been learning some great lessons from his life. One of David's dreams was to build a magnificent Temple for God but God said No. God had a better plan. David would gather the materials and Solomon his son would build the Temple. However, God's plan for David was much greater in that Jesus would sit on the throne of David forever and God said to David, "Your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever (2 Samuel 7:16).” Jesus' Kingdom will truly last forever and the Temple that God would build would be built of living stones (1 Peter 2:4-6 - all those who received Jesus as their Savior and God will live within them). There would be no end of this Kingdom. God's plan for David's life was far greater than he could possibly comprehend (Probably greater than we can comprehend as well).

So, when what we want doesn't work out, and we are down because our plans have failed it may actually be a time for rejoicing because God has a better plan. We have to remember that when we think we are in the valley it may not actually be a valley but only a time of preparation that is necessary for the fulfillment of the greater plan in our lives. Our part, which is sometimes difficult, is to continue to have faith and trust that God is working and will bring us through this time in our lives. We must continue to walk with Him even when we cannot see how anything will ever change. But if we are faithfully committed to right living and serving our God, there will come a day when the valley is behind and the summit is ahead.

What seems impossible for us is very easy for God. Even though we think it will never happen, and that it is impossible; God can bring it about. When He does bring it about it is like being transported into another dimension. We do not know how He did it, but we know that somehow. He did. Will you trust God believing that He indeed has a better plan for your life?

(Resent as a Classic Devotional 09.16.10 - This devotional may be another instance of God having a better plan. I have had problems with my computer all day with sporadic Internet access and finally gave up on writing a new devotional because of it.)