The second thing we need to do when God changes our plans is to relate the change to His sovereignty. Paul talks about his surrender to God’s sovereignty in verses 15-20. When God speaks, God speaks surely and directly. When He acts in our lives it is always the best course to where God wants to bring us. And so, if we really are serious about following His will and going in the way He wants us to go, then we will surrender to a change of plans He brings into our lives. We might think that the way we intended to go was a good way, but we must acknowledge that God sees things we cannot see, and that He has changed the path for a good purpose for His glory. This is what Paul learned to do. When God directs a person in one way or another, this is what He wants for us and we need to yield to it and trust Him. And if what He chooses for us does not make sense at the time, the problem is in us and how we are looking at the situation.
One way to illustrate this is when you are driving down a straight road in the heat of the summer. The heat waves are rising up from the asphalt, and as they rise, they ripple. When you look down the road it looks like it is made out of corrugated tin, about as uneven as it can be. Of course, the road is not really bending; the road is straight and even. But the atmospheric conditions are distorting your perception. That is the way it is with God’s plan. God has a right and straight plan for us, but when we see what He is doing it does not always appear that way. Just as Paul learned, we need to trust God in those times and not chafe under the changes that come from Him.
The third thing Paul does, which you find in verses 21 and 22, is examine his relationship to Jesus Christ through the Holy Spirit: “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” You see, when Paul’s plans changed he sat down and re-examined his relationship to Jesus Christ. This is an important point because he knew that Christ was his Master. And although it was true that his plans were changed and he was not able to do what he wanted to do, he recognized that he was not his own, but belonged to Jesus Christ.
Paul speaks about his union with Christ in an interesting way. He uses a number of important terms here. He says that he was anointed. An anointing sets someone apart for something special. The greatest example of this, of course, is Jesus, who is the Anointed because that is what the word messiah means. Though certainly not in the same way, Paul knows that, nevertheless, God also anointed him for ministry. Paul’s anointing for his particular ministry actually unites him to Christ.
