Advent Joy in Ruined Plans

We had just had a wonderful Christmas with our families. Selah was just over a year old and our family of three was excited to get back home. We packed up our suitcases, put Selah in her adorable Santa onesie and headed to the airport. We checked our bags and hung on to a small carry on that basically had extra clothes and toys for our daughter, just in case.

We had two flights that day to get us back to Colorado with a tight connection between them. The first flight went great! Except for the fact that as soon as we boarded and got settled, my husband got a text update saying our second flight had been cancelled.

So we formed a plan on the flight and were ready to fix this hiccup when we landed. Long story short, my husband waited in the customer service line for two hours while I followed our little one as she butt scooted across the terminal. The best we could do was to book a flight for 6pm…the next day. So we took our hotel voucher, managed to get through the night with the bare essentials we had, killed time all day long and finally boarded our flight home.

After our sweet, overtired girl screamed for the entire flight, we landed and made it back to our car. As soon as I buckled her in her car seat and got into the car myself, I dissolved into a puddle of tears. The last 24 hours had been the opposite of what we expected, but we were finally home.

I’m starting to find that Christmas plans rarely go exactly how we expect. There are weather delays and toddler meltdowns, there’s sicknesses and unmet expectations. It can be a HUGE challenge to put on an appearance of holiday cheer when your holiday plans aren’t going like you’d hoped.

Praise the Lord, the joy we celebrate in the Advent season is only dependent on one perfect plan.

The night our Savior came into the world went exactly as planned. However, from our vantage point, we may beg to differ. A young virgin girl was chosen to carry the Savior of the world in her womb, which was cause for all manner of gossip (Isaiah 7:14, Luke 1:35). The end of this pregnancy was disrupted by a grueling trip to the small and insignificant town of Bethlehem (Micah 5:2, Matthew 2:4-6). After Jesus’ birth, Herod tried to murder the young Savior so his family had to flee to Egypt (Hosea 11:1, Matthew 2:14-15).

None of this seemed to be going smoothly and yet all of it was the perfect fulfillment of God’s plan. This infallible plan continued all the way to the cross, where Jesus became the perfect sacrifice for our sins. Though we looked at the cross and considered “him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted” (Isaiah 53:4), this humiliating, bloody death meant for criminals not kings, “delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14).

No one could have ruined God’s plan of salvation (Isaiah 14:27, Proverbs 21:30, Psalm 33:10-11). His plan was perfect and our souls have been saved. This truth is the source of our deepest joy. And because our joy is secure in our Savior’s work on the cross, we can rejoice in any and all circumstances, even when it seems our own plans are falling apart.

Let’s take a look at this incredibly rich passage of Scripture to see just how stable this joy is:

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand;

I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:4-5; 10-13

The apostle Paul was not only familiar with ruined plans, he was familiar with incredibly hard, unexpected circumstances that make my little hiccup look like child’s play. We see in the New Testament that he regularly planned to visit various churches, but God prevented those plans from happening (Romans 1:10-13, Acts 16:6-7). He was shipwrecked (Acts 27:39-44), imprisoned (Acts 16:16-40), and was hated and persecuted for the gospel truth he proclaimed (Acts 9:29, 13:50, 16:22).

And yet, here he is, encouraging his brothers and sisters in Philippi to rejoice always. He goes on to explain that he has faced all manners of circumstances - hunger, plenty, abundance, and need - and in every single one of them, he had learned to be content. Where does that contentment rest?

The contentment we can have in every circumstance is found in our Savior. We can rejoice in the Lord always, in whatever we face. When our holiday plans are ruined, when we receive a life threatening diagnosis, when our bare necessities are barely being met, when we’re overwhelmed by stress and overcome by sadness, we can truly and eternally rejoice!

So do not lose heart. Even if your Christmas season has been uprooted by worst case scenarios, even if your plans have fallen apart, even if grief and tears have become unwelcome guests in your life, do not lost heart. Your joy is secure. You have a reason to rejoice even nothing is going according to your plans because your Savior has come and has purchased your soul. Whatever your day, week, or years look like, rejoice in the Lord. Again, I say rejoice.