Discovering God's Plans

I read an article this past weekend concerning a recent discovery by scientists of more than 1,000 species in Southeast Asia's Greater Mekong region in the past decade, including a spider as big as a dinner plate, a rat thought to have been extinct in ancient history, and a shockingly bright pink millipede in this "biological treasure trove". The species were all found in the rainforests and wetlands along the Mekong River, which flows through Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and the southern Chinese province of Yunnan. According to the article, at least 1,068 have been officially described by scientists as being "newly discovered species."

It's amazing to me that as much as we have discovered and accomplished throughout the course of history (most notably the past hundred years), that we still find not just a few new species in a given region, but hundreds within just a few year's time. Just when we think we have uncovered nearly everything under the sun, an article akin to this is released and begs the question, "how much more could actually be in this universe?" What undiscovered planets are beyond the reaches of our technologies? What other species have yet to be unearthed in the most remote of places? And finally, what more does God have in store for our lives that surpass our self-crafted plans?

Whenever I try to "figure God out," or try to come up with analogies that describe God, I quickly learn that He's so much bigger than what I can wrap my mind around. He is so much more powerful that anything we try to descriptively compare and contrast with Him. He is so much mightier than what our finite minds can take in. And the best part is that He is innately good-He loves us more than we can comprehend.

So, as we go about our week, we need to know that God's plans for us are still being discovered, but they are better than we can imagine. They are hidden in the depths of heaven, but they are plans to prosper us and not to harm us. They are plans to give us hope and a future.

For me, this is enough to give me contentment. This is enough to give me hope. This is enough to give me peace.

We have a loving God that has no beginning or end. We have so much more to faithfully discover...