Seeing God's Plan for You

In the Bible book of Psalms we read: “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law” (Ps 119). I like to think of this passage when I look to God for guidance. God always has a plan of goodness for us. However, this plan may not fit our preconceived ideas of what we want. Sometimes we have to open our eyes (lay aside our preconceptions and move forward with trust) to see God’s plan.

Here is an example. My wife, son, and I were on vacation in Japan. It was late November, the leaves were changing color, and there were signs of the approaching winter. We had planned to go for a hike in the mountains to enjoy the fall colors. The sky was clear when our bus pulled out of Hiroshima and I was excited with anticipation of a beautiful autumn hike. However, as we drove further into the mountains it became overcast and rain began falling. When the bus pulled into the small mountain town where we had planned to start our hike, we saw to our dismay that snow had fallen the night before. A steady light rain was now falling, turning the snow into a sloppy, white blanket.

The bus pulled away, leaving us shivering in the cold rain in this seemingly deserted mountain town. What should we do now? I always feel that God is guiding me, but for a moment this seemed like something had gone wrong with God’s plan. We had several hours to spend before a bus was scheduled to come that would take us back to the city. What should we do? Where could we spend the time? I resisted the temptation to feel discouraged and sorry for ourselves. I knew God was with us – He is always with each one of us. I knew that God was the only cause and causes only good for His children. God has a plan for us every day and we can trust that plan.

“Let’s go take a look”, I suggested. Most of the shops and cafes along the single street of this small town were closed. It was clearly the off-season. Near the end of the street, not far from where we had planned to start our hike, there was an open shop. By the door were three umbrellas on sale – only $5 each. Were they there for us ...? We purchased the umbrellas and continued on.

Arriving at the trailhead, we paused. Alone, staring at the water-saturated, snow-covered path with a steady drizzle falling on our umbrellas, we hesitated and questioned whether we should proceed. The sense that God was guiding us prevailed and we hiked forward up the trail.

What a wonderful day we had!

The trail led up a narrow, wooded gorge. The leaves were at their peak color and starting to fall. White snow, brilliant wet leaves, and swirling mist combined to create a magical setting. Unlike our other walks on this trip, in which we had been consistently accompanied by crowds of other tourists, we had this magical wonderland to ourselves. One of the few people we did meet on the trail kindly offered to take a picture of us with our camera. We hiked all day and arrived back in town just in time to catch our bus.

That was one of the most memorable days on our trip. Yes, the scenery had been beautiful and we enjoyed our time together, but best of all was that affirmation of God’s law of goodness and that experience of opening our eyes to behold wondrous things.