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Maybe you’ve never been at that place where one stretch of the journey has ended and you can’t quite see where the next one is going. I’ve spent the last couple of months there.

It reminds me of a spot as some friends and I were hiking down into the Grand Canyon and the trail seemed like it was dropping off—like we were supposed to walk this far and then just jump. It wasn’t until we got to the last step that we could see that we were able to see the sharp turn that the trail took into a section known as the Devil’s Corkscrew. It was the most intimidating part of the climb. It was also well over 100 degrees. So the name seemed appropriate.

Have you been in one of those places in life that you just feel defeated… feel like a failure… feel like you’re at the end of the trail that you can see?

Rend Collective released a new album just before I got to that spot. Tori and I had a chance to see them on the way home from our recent sabbath trip. It was a small venue full of eager listeners. But this song wrecked me. I struggled to believe these words:

I'm a blank page, you're the author
I'm the canvas, You're the painter, oh
My story isn't over
From the heartbreak, from the hurting
Lord, I know that You're moving, oh, oh
Come and do a new thing

This chorus hit me again and again like waves crashing on a ragged rock:

You got plans for me
You got plans for me
Greater than my wildest dreams
Stronger than the enemy
You got plans for me
You got plans for me
Even in my worst defeat
Will You give me faith to see
You got plans for me
Plans for me

It was so hard to believe and, if I’m completely forthcoming, I doubt it more than I want to admit. But especially this next verse:

Looking back on all my failings
All the endings were beginnings, oh, oh
You were always working
If I lose my way and all my strength is gone
Lord, I still believe there are better days to come

I’m a ridiculously insecure person at times. I genuinely believe that most of us are. But the truth is that the path before me can only be known by the One who is already there. And if He is there, then I can be confident that He is still working, ALREADY working on the situations I have not yet even begun to face.

He does have plans for me. How can I be sure?

I know that we followers of Jesus tend to point to that well-known and oft-quoted passage in Jeremiah chapter 29:

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Jeremiah 29.11

I also know that the context of this passage was pretty specific to a people and a circumstance that I am not and do not want to be participating within. Yet… the principle is true. God does have plans for me. He has already promised me a future and filled me with a great hope for what is to come.

And I know that all of the promises He has made to us—never to leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 5.1), to be with us always (Matthew 28.20), to finish the work He has begun in us (Philippians 1.6), and so many more—are true and, in the person of Jesus, find their absolute assurance (2 Corinthians 1.20-22).

I want to suggest that you take a moment and listen through this great song at least once or twice. You might even put it on repeat for a little while. And be honest with God about your struggle to believe what you know to be true—that He is not finished working in and through your life for His own glory and your great good.

O Father, I know You’re not done yet. Please help me believe that You really do have plans for me that are greater than my worst defeat, that are stronger than my enemy, that are for Your glory and for my good.

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If you enjoy these musical devotional posts, let me know in the comments and feel free to suggest a song that speaks to you in a significant way.