Whenever I take my journey into Spain, I will come to you, for I trust to see you in my journey, and to be brought on my way thitherward by you, if first I be somewhat filled with your company. Romans 15:24
The writings of Iranaeus, an early Christian leader who lived in Lugdunum, which is now Lyons, France, sometime between the years 180 and 200 indicate that some Christian Assemblies existed in Spain, the first evidence that the Gospel had reached that land. Whether Paul actually reached Spain or had anything to do with sending missionaries there is purely guessing; there is no evidence whatsoever that Paul went there. Such a journey must surely have been included in the accounts of the book of Acts hat it occurred. And yet, as our text relates, Paul certainly had strong intentions of going to Spail. Note that he uses the word ‘whenever’, not ‘if’. We don’t know why he had an exercise for Spain rather than Britain, for example, or the areas of northern Europe. But he was definitely intending to travel there, right after he completed his upcoming trip from Corinth to Jerusalem. But he was arrested in Jerusalem and never made the trip. God had other plans, and Spain had to wait. God often has other plans for us causing us to set aside well-made plans and programs.
Spain desperately needed the Gospel. The land was filled with the worship of local idols of all kinds, as well as the imported worship of Baal from the Phoenicians, Artemis from the Greeks, and emperor-worship from the Romans. The presence of these false religions no doubt influenced Paul in his exercise to go to Spain. No one could question Paul’s love for the lost souls in the Iberian Peninsula. And nobody could deny the desperate need for the Gospel there. But somebody else, and at a different time, took the Gospel to Spain. Like Paul, we often have noble and God-honouring plans for some project, only to see those plans changed, or to see ourselves removed from the plans. We see a great need and we move to fill it. We see a work to do and we prepare ourselves to do it. But God changes the plan. Like Paul, we wonder why. To a great extent, we can read of Paul’s work and see the purposes behind his changed plans. But we have yet to see why our own plans changed.
Our perspective of God’s purposes, or even of our own lives, is remarkably small. We remember what happened yesterday, we schedule what is to happen today, and we hope to make progress tomorrow. Beyond that, we have little or no impact on what happens. We have only a general idea of God’s purposes for the future even as we have an imperfect interpretation of what has transpired in the past. Our best approach is to simply, day by day, commit our way to the Lord, and allow Him to guide us. Rather than be disappointed at having our plans change, we should be delighted to see God work. Whether it is our plans for our work, or families, our personal agendas, or for our service to the Lord, we should remain open to allow God to make minor or major adjustments.
If we see our plans as tentative, and God’s plans as eternal, we will be more willing to follow His. -Jim MacIntosh