DAY 16 THE BEST-LAID PLANS …

Lamentations 3:22-23

Are you a planner i.e., a person who plans a lot?  If you are a planner, how do you react when things don’t go according to your plans? Despite our best planning, things change – some times for the good and some times for the bad.  

Thomas Obadiah Chisholm was a planner. Chisholm was born in Franklin, Kentucky on July 29, 1866. He was a bright man – became a schoolteacher at age 16 and later worked as a newspaper editor in Louisville, Kentucky. When he was 27, he heard the Gospel and became a Christian. He then carefully planned his future – and within 9 years at the age of 36 he became a pastor. But all his plans changed because within one year of becoming a pastor, Chisholm became ill with a respiratory problem. His church members complained they could not hear him preach so he could no longer be a Pastor. They told him to leave the church because they were afraid his illness might be contagious. Kicked out of church for being sick!

So Chisholm became a door-to-door brush sales man but soon realized he could not earn enough money selling brushes. Then he moved to New Jersey and worked as an insurance salesman. In insurance also he barely made a living. He died in 1960 at the ripe age of 93. None of his plans for his life worked.  Now Chisholm might have been forgotten as another ordinary man but for his hobby.  Thomas Chisholm had a hobby – he wrote poems – during his lifetime, Chisholm wrote 1200 poems, and he sent some of them to his friend William Runyan. Runyan liked one poem and he set it to music. The song quickly became a favorite and we all know it as a hymn that goes –

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee,
Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail not,
As Thou hast been, Thou forever wilt be.

Refrain:
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!

Some hymns are known for their rich poetry, their grand music and wonderful doctrine. But ‘Great is Thy Faithfulness’ is known, as one writer puts it, ‘a hymn for ordinary Christians like you and me written by an ordinary guy, dealing with life’s ordinary challenges.’

Chisholm was an ordinary guy who lived a fairly ordinary life. Just like most of us. But he cherished and relied on God’s faithfulness. He faced many problems but he always trusted in (his words) the “unfailing faithfulness of a covenant-keeping God” and he was always grateful. Chisholm never complained – he just worked – trying to make the meager living that was necessary for his family to survive.

Dear brother and sister in Christ- we also plan and plan, but circumstances change and some times we might lose hope.  The best-laid plans may change, afflictions may come but God remains the same – as it is written “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8)

So let’s examine scripture and also learn from hymns such as ‘Great is thy Faithfulness’ to appreciate how Faithful God is.

Heavenly Father, I thank you that you are faithful even while I am not. In Jesus name I ask you to ‘increase my faith’. Amen!