Your Life -- One of the Greatest Feats of Engineering in History!

I think engineering is a fascinating field. I’ve had the pleasure of working with engineers on a number of public works projects during my years in local government. From street construction and flood control, to water lines and sewers, I was always amazed at how the engineers would consider the variables surrounding a project, run the calculations and come up with a final design to build something that actually worked.

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Engineers combine experience with industry standards to account for every foreseeable situation that could affect the construction process as well as the long-term use of whatever they are designing. Projects are always designed to withstand the maximum potential use of the finished product, such as the maximum weight that a bridge must bear at any given point.

While the focus of architecture is on aesthetics, functionality and other design elements, engineering brings “exactness” into the creative process. The engineer makes sure a building can withstand the forces of nature or that a car engine can operate properly under the harsh conditions of the combustion process. While aesthetic design is important to the eye, the underlying engineering determines if something will work and continue to work over time.

I began thinking about the engineering process as I was revisiting a familiar verse of scripture recently. Jeremiah 29:11 is a comforting word given to God’s people in the midst of their Babylonian captivity. The verse also talks about God as an engineer.

In it God says, “… I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.’”(NAS[i]). Many of us, like the Israelites who heard these words so long ago, have been encouraged by this verse. When you consider the fact that God is fully aware of His plans for us and that they are good, how can you be anything but encouraged? However, as they say in the infomercials, “but wait, there's more!”

I have imagined, thought through, calculated and drawn the plans for your future — and the plans are good!

My New American Standard version of the Bible places a footnote next to the opening phrase of the verse: “I know the plans that I have for you….” The footnote indicates a literal translation of “I know the plans that I am planning for you….” This subtle yet important expansion of the verse is very profound because it attaches direct action to God’s plans. The NAS Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon,[ii] indicates that when God refers to His plans for us He is primarily talking about His thoughts and intentions — the creative process. But when He is talking about His planning He is putting technical action to that process; He is talking about calculations and successful implementation of His plans. God’s plans are much more than good thoughts or desires; they are His carefully calculated will for His people!

As an Israelite in Babylon, you would have understood the Lord as saying something like this: “I have imagined, thought through, calculated and drawn the plans for your future — and the plans are good! I have engineered your future for blessing!”

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What an exciting idea! What an exciting promise! Our God desires to be both the master architect and the engineer of our lives! He desires to bring beauty intolives filled with nothing but ashes (Is. 61:3); He desires to bring purpose into lives that are wasting away in the captivity of sin’s dominion. He engineers our time and events with the same authority and accuracy He used when He brought Israel out of their captivity exactly when and how He said He would. God has engineered a life of blessing and excellence for anyone who is willing to allow His masterful touch to form them and shape them into the image of His Dear Son, Jesus (Rom. 8:29).

Ephesians 2:10 proclaims that we are God’s workmanship; His masterpiece (AMP[iii]), engineered for the express purpose of doing good works which God planned in advance for us. To effectively engage the world, we must first recognize that God’s plans for us are calculated for blessing. Confident in this fact, we will possess the courageous faith necessary to do the works of God, to proclaim His love, and to shine His light in the midst of a lost generation.

Prayer:

Lord, I recognize today that you are the master engineer of my life. In your word you tell me that you are aware of your plans for me and that they are good. I desire to surrender my life fully to your design. Thank You for courageous faith that enables me to love the lost and to share your truths, for your glory, in Jesus name.

CourageousFaith.com -- “Engage the World.”

Contact: John@courageousfaith.com

[i] New American Standard Bible (1995 Update). Copyright © 1981, 1998 THE LOCKMAN FOUNDATION A Corporation Not for Profit La Habra, California

[ii] Brown, Driver, Briggs and Gesenius. "The NAS Old Testament Hebrew Lexicon"

[iii] Amplified Bible (AMP) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

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