John chapter 16 verses 5-8 (NIV)
“But now I am going to him who sent me. None of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?’ Rather, you are filled with grief because I have said these things. But very truly I tell you, it is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.”
When things don’t seem to be working out the way we hoped, how do we react? Perhaps the disciples didn’t want to ask Jesus where He was going because they didn’t want to hear that things were going to be different. An element of burying their heads in the sand, in my opinion. I don’t blame them, because I think I’d have been the same. Jesus knew what they were thinking and He reassured them that this change was for their good, because it meant the Holy Spirit would come and always indwell them. Nevertheless, I’m sure that this was not what they wanted to hear, because as yet they didn’t fully understand. They did come to understand and were filled with the Holy Spirit’s transforming power.
Sometimes God’s plans for us are not what we imagined they would be, but nonetheless, we can trust that they are for our good. We may not fully understand them in the beginning, but as Christians we are blessed to have the Holy Spirit to direct, transform and guide as just as He did the disciples.
Dear Lord,
Help me to remember that Your plans are always for my good and for Your Glory. Help me to be more sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. I ask in Jesus’ Name. Amen.