MAKE YOUR PLANS IN PENCIL; GOD HOLDS THE ERASER — Part 8b

The View From Above: Thoughts To Help With Everyday Life

October 8, 2026

Pastor Paul Stephens

MAKE YOUR PLANS IN PENCIL; GOD HOLDS THE ERASER — Part 8b

Let’s consider today which of your plans may need to be turned to eraser dust so that God’s will and His plans can emerge.

NO! They can’t be erased, they won’t be erased. I’ve written my plans in indelible ink, and no one, not even God, can erase what I want to do, or so we think.

Consider Jonah.

God had plans, Jonah had plans, and they were in conflict with each other.

How often does that occur?

Quite often, I think, that is.

Jonah 1:1–3

“Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry out against it; for their wickedness has come up before Me.’

But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. He went down to Joppa, and found a ship going to Tarshish; so he paid the fare, and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.”

Ink, said Jonah.

I’m writing my plans in ink, and no one, not even God, is going to erase them.

Well, the indelible ink turned to pencil, or at least it became something that God could erase.

It took some doing. God can be very persuasive, but as you read the rest of the book of Jonah, he did surrender and embrace God’s plan for his life.

It is so much better for us if we also surrender and take a position of obedience in our lives.

Let’s make it easy on God by writing our plans in pencil, at least before they are confirmed to be God’s will. Then we can take out the ink and confirm what God is dealing with us about.

I wasn’t sure, when I first got saved and gave my life to Jesus, what God’s will was for Renee and me.

I just knew that Jesus was real and I wanted all that He had for my life.

Then it became apparent early on that I was called to preach the Gospel as a pastor.

Before pencil, after the altar where I bowed my knee and said yes, out came the ink.

The indelible ink with which God’s plans are written became my writing instrument as the plan of God began to unfold.

Again, I’m reminded of Jeremiah, the great prophet, during very troubling times:

Jeremiah 1:5

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.”

Those are God’s plans, written in ink before time began.

Whatever plans Jeremiah had for his life before the occasion of God calling him needed to be erased, and thanks to a surrendered heart on the part of Jeremiah, they were, whatever they might have been.

Eraser dust is a good way of describing what my plans needed to turn into before I became aware of God’s call in my life.

Along the way, as God’s will unfolds, more eraser dust.

Not everything we want to do, that we think is a good idea, actually is…so it’s a good idea to write in pencil first before we take out the indelible ink.

2 Timothy 1:9

“(Jesus Christ) who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began…”

Let’s all strive to discover what God has written in indelible ink before time began…until then, have a pencil at the ready to write down your plans, because the fact is, at least some of them may need to be erased.