Fear of Missing Out

And Samuel said to him, “The LORD has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day and has given it to a neighbor of yours, who is better than you.” 1 Samuel 15:28

Like most of us, I’ve always had some fear of missing out. I want to experience everything life has to offer, so if others are doing something exciting, I want in on it. Oddly though, I’ve always been supremely confident about God’s plan for my life, never really worrying about missing out on it. In fact, there was a time when I just assumed that because I was a Christian, I just couldn’t mess my life up that badly. I simply knew that I’d never get addicted to drugs and lose my job. That was just such an absurd possibility, from which I believed God would protect me. Then, I did get addicted, and I did lose my job. In that disaster, I realized that even though God has a plan for my life, I possessed the ability to wreck that plan.

This is the message of today’s passage – It is possible to derail God’s plan for our lives. In the story, King Saul disobeyed God by failing to completely destroy the Amalekites. Saul knew God’s will, but he defied God, following his own will instead. Using his prophet Samuel, God confronted Saul, informing him that for his sin, his kingdom would be taken away. Saul could have followed God. If he had, his kingdom would have been blessed. When confronted with the consequences of his sin, Saul did confess and ask forgiveness, but still, he couldn’t undo the damage. For his failure, Saul lost his kingdom forever.

God desires that we know a life of joy and peace in following his will. This doesn’t mean we won’t have trials. It means that we may experience joy and peace even in the trials. We, however, possess the ability to miss out on the joy and peace God intends for us, making ourselves miserable. God will still work out his grand plan. We don’t possess the power to thwart God’s overall will. But we can miss out on his plan for our lives.

Thankfully, the opposite is true as well. No matter how badly I’ve messed up, there is always mercy and forgiveness if I return to God. In seeking his will, instead of my own, I can find new life. I may not be able to undo all the damage I’ve done – I will never get my old job back. I can, however, experience joy and peace once again, despite the pain I’ve caused. If I don’t want to miss out on the life God intends, then daily, I must follow his will, instead of my own.