During the Cold War, the Russians were famous for ordering their nation's economy with broad-sweeping, five-year plans. The principle was simple: if they wanted to achieve certain goals by a certain time, they they would need to make detailed plans to get them from Point A to Point B. 

True enough, having a detailed plan can help us accomplish our goals if we want to shed 10 pounds or if we're aspiring for political office. But what about in the spiritual side of life? Yes, we need spiritual discipline. But does that mean you will miss God's call on your life if you don't have a detailed, 20-year plan mapped out?

If we try to devise a long-term plan in our walk with God, then we've got a hard row to hoe. Consider two aspects to God's call on our lives. First, we know that at least part of God's plans for each one of us includes our sanctification (1 Thessalonians 4:3). Sanctification is the scrubbing up of who we are and how we live so that we look more like Christ at the end of our lives than now. How are you going to map that out? (There are a lot of areas to cover here, from taming the tongue to loving our neighbor. So, if you do try to plan out your sanctification, make sure you bring a lot of paper!) 

A second aspect of God's call on our lives comes from Ephesians: "For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do" (Ephesians 2:10). We each have specific good works that God has called us to do. Many of us have at least an inkling of how we should be ministering to Him. But more often than not, we find it hard to express exactly what it is that God is calling us to do in ministry. It's hard to make an effective plan without knowing what the full goal is supposed to look like. 

It should be obvious: we don't fulfill God's calling on our lives by cleverly devising long-term plans. Rather, we get there by faithfully doing the small things right before our faces with the right kind of heart.

Look at the example of David in the Old Testament. David started out as a young man of little consequence -- the youngest of eight brothers who was sent out of the house to look after the family's sheep. And, yet, David had God's calling on his life. He was to be the king of God's people and the earthly ancestor of the coming Messiah. That's a tall order to fill.

When we first meet David in Scripture, the prophet Samuel has come to his house to anoint a new king over Israel. It must have been shocking for David's family to have such a prominent guest show up in the first place. It would have been the equivalent of Billy Graham knocking on your door right now and saying, "God sent me to give you a special message." 

What was even more shocking was that Samuel, the nation's most famous prophet at that time, was looking to anoint one of the family members as king. And what's more, God's prophet just happened to choose the runt of the litter -- David, the shepherd boy, to lead His people. 

Imagine that you were there in the room with Samuel, Jesse (David's father), and David's seven brothers. As unbelievable as it all would have seemed, it would have been even stranger if David had stood up at that moment and made the following speech:

"Friends, brothers, father, and right honorable Samuel, thank you all for attending tonight. As you have just heard, I have been anointed king over Israel. Now, we've got a lot of work ahead of us to make this happen. Abinadab, get out a scroll and take some notes. We've got to get a game plan. First on the list, we need to get rid of King Saul. Second, I'll need a new set of clothing because, frankly, I still smell like sheep. Third, we'll have to win the support of the tribal leaders . . .  do we have any extra figs and dates we can send them with a nice note?  . . ." 

Ridiculous.

But, if David didn't start carefully planning to bring about God's calling in his life, then what did he do? He probably went back out to tend the sheep because that is where King Saul's messengers found him  (1 Samuel 16:19). Even Samuel didn't hang around to start making plans for a political coup. He went back to his home in Ramah (1 Samuel 16:13). 

Be assured, David did become king -- not just in a prophetic act by Samuel, but in actuality. Yet, there were going to be a lot of twists and turns along the way as the shepherd boy left the sheep, served under Saul, worked in the army, and fled for his life. You can't plan out a crazy route like that.

So, what did David do as God brought him step by step into the fullness of His plans for him? David did the simple stuff--the tasks right in front of his face, like caring for the sheep. Early on, David was no big wig. But God took note of him. As God instructed Samuel to pass by David's brothers for the kingship, He told the prophet "The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7).

God wasn't looking for the top business executive in the country. He was looking for someone who would do the little stuff -- with the right heart before God. And that's where we need to be. We don't need to stress out about missing our call because we don't have a clever plan. Leave the big picture to God -- just make sure you do the little things in your life with the right heart.