Does God Really Have a Plan?

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Dear Fellow Travelers,
This is a portion of what Peter had to say about God’s foreknowledge and His predetermined plan: “Men of Israel, listen to these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know—this Man, delivered up by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. And God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power” (Acts 2:22-24 NASB; emphasis added). You can rest assured of this: If Jesus’ life, death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seating was the result of God’s foreknowledge and predetermined plan, THEN the details of your life are, certainly, no surprise to Him! Count on this: You are living precisely what God foreknew and predetermined for your life and, I might add, this is NOT subject to change.
Based, however, upon the way most of us react to adversity, it is obvious that we think we have the ability to change, avoid, even eliminate God’s predetermined plan for our lives, and, thus, modify what He foreknew.
Not only that, but most of us honestly think it is in our best interest to do so! For some reason, we seem to believe that we know better that God what is best for our lives; consequently, when adversity comes, we immediately begin the futile attempt at getting God to change His mind and do what we think is best, rather than what He thinks is best.
Furthermore, many honestly believe it would not have been fair for God to have preplanned our lives, as His doing so would have reduced us to mere puppets, which would rob us of our “free will,” and this would certainly not be fair; after all, we are “free moral agents” (or so we think!). All I can say in response is this: the last thing we want from God is for Him to be fair! We had better trust that He continues to be merciful, rather than fair!
What I am saying is this: For many (most), it is fine for God to have foreknowledge, even perfect foreknowledge, but it is NOT fine for Him to have a predetermined plan for our lives! As one of my friends recently said, “In my opinion, God’s predetermined plan determined His foreknowledge, not the other way around,” which in my opinion is probably correct, and if it is, we should hurry and get used to it. I will say this: I had much rather know that God has a predetermined plan for my life, than to think that I am wandering aimlessly, trying to exercise my “free will” in an effort to have my own way.
Let us look at an example: God planned and, therefore, obviously, foreknew that John Doe would break his leg by stumbling over his lawn mower on July 10, 2008. Obviously, if God planned in advance (before the foundation of the world!) that this event would take place, then it took place, just as He and planned, thus, foreknew.
From what I can see, most people have no problem with God having foreknowledge of this event; the problem comes, however, when someone even hints that He caused this event, that His predetermined plan and foreknowledge determined this event, and it comes because we do not want anyone, even God, to exercise this kind of control over our lives. It makes us feel trapped, and we detest that feeling.
To say that God allowed something, is one thing; to say that He caused it, is quite another, and it is because it eliminates any control we might think we have over our lives! As I said earlier, it robs us of our perceived “free will”.
To be sure, when we begin to realize that His plan for us is contrary to what we de-sire for our lives, many (if not, most) of us begin doing whatever we can to avoid, change, even eliminate His plan! Of course, the way to accomplish this is simple—“have enough faith!” After all, faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains! Reminder: He has instructed us to ASK, but He has never instructed us to DEMAND anything from Him—faith or no faith.
Even so, I do have this question: If it is true that God allows ONLY that which He (He, not we!) deems best to come into our lives, that which is for His glory and for our good, why, pray tell me, would we want to do anything to avoid or change or eliminate it? Why would we want to remove a “mountain” that He has placed, or allowed to be placed, into our lives for His glory and for our good?
Even if you cannot accept that God actually brought an adverse event into your life, surely you have to accept that He allowed it to come into your life (He is God, you know!), and surely you believe that everything that happens in your life must first filter through His loving, compassionate, just hands—everything! If this is true, then why are we so quick to try to escape the adversity?
As I said in an earlier perspective, coming to that place of compliant surrender to His sovereign, predetermined plan for my life, is no easy task; in fact, I cannot do it. To be sure, it is one thing for me to say that I trust God; however, it is quite another for me to truly trust Him. Oh, I can talk-the-talk, but walking-this-walk, well, it is too difficult for me. I really am a weenie but don’t be too hard on me because you probably aren’t much different! If you think you are, just hang around a while and He will change your mind!
As you journey, remember these words of Paul: “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28 NASB). You might want to keep this in mind, as well: “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39 NASB).