God’s Plans are Bigger and Better – December 28, 2025

One key truth: We can always trust God’s loving plans for us.

When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”
Matthew 2:13-15

God’s Plans are Bigger and Better

Torey couldn’t believe what had happened. The amount of suffering her “friends” had caused her was nearly unbearable. She felt so betrayed, knowing that her besties had purposefully hurt her and then talked about it and spread rumors and lies through social media. She just wanted to crawl in a hole and disappear. Even more, she wanted to cry out and ask God, “Why?!”

It took a long time, but three years later Torey finally understood why God allowed that all to happen. It was a hurtful and bad situation caused by sin to be sure, but Torey saw how God had bigger and better things in mind. That situation led Torey to find Lauren. Lauren had been through something similar and became an ear to listen, a shoulder to cry on, and a best friend for life. And being friends with Lauren led to Torey meeting Henry, who now had been her rock-solid, Jesus-loving, Christian boyfriend of over a year. And even more, Torey was able to help two other people get through a similar situation to the one she had. God did indeed have something bigger and better in mind.

When we read in the Scriptures about King Herod slaughtering children under two years old in attempting to kill the infant Jesus, we shudder at the horror of such an event. What evil and awful things happen at times in our world! On a smaller level, we might also think about the unwanted challenge for Joseph and Mary in fleeing from that murderous scene in Judea with a young child to hide out in the safety of Egypt.

However, God had bigger and better things in mind. First, God used the circumstances of Herod’s sin to fulfill two prophecies—that his Son would “come out of Egypt” and that later he would settle in Nazareth. God always keeps his promises! This event led to those promises being fulfilled.

Yet on a bigger scale, through this trip to Egypt, God protected and preserved his Son. The heavenly Father kept his Son safe from death because it was not the time to die yet. No, God had bigger and better plans in mind. That Son was going to go on to live a full and perfect life in the place of all sinful humans. That innocent life then would be offered as a sacrifice to pay for sin through a different murderous plan. The crib was not the right time or place to die. The cross was.

These are just brief verses to meditate on in the pages of Scripture, but they remind us that God always has bigger and better plans in mind for us and for our good.

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, I admit that often I don’t see your plans very well. Sometimes I straight-up doubt them or get frustrated when life hurts. Help me to see your love for your Son—how you protected his life when he was young only so that he could later give his life for me. When your plans confuse me, remind me that your heart for me never changes. Let your plans fulfilled in Jesus help me trust that your plans for me are always carried out with love and grace and for my good. Amen.