an addendum

another inspirational quote from Andy Dwyer

Yesterday I wrote (well, who're we kidding; yesterday I ranted) against the idea that God has a "beautiful" plan for our lives, particularly a plan that coincides with what we want. You know how it goes: go to any Christian bookstore (seriously, any Christian bookstore will do) and look at their devotionals, study bibles, journals, what-have-you, and what verse will you most often find stenciled on the front cover? Jeremiah 29:11: For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans not to harm you, plans to give you a future and a hope. (or something along those lines; I'm not bothering to look it up) The idea is that God has a blueprint for our lives that inevitably involves our comfort, our ambitions and hopes coming to fruition, and our own selves being made significant and our lives meaningful in the way we desire it. (never mind, of course, that Jer 29:11 is about God's plans for the restoration of Israel following exile in Babylon; those are just insignificant details) Christian radio is filled with stories about how God's plan involves worldly success, the fulfilling of our dreams, and our lives coming out A-Ok if we just have patience and trust Him.

That happens for some people. But not for everyone.

That happens for lots of Christians; but not, I'd dare say, for most.

I remember sitting in the balcony at U.C.C. a couple weeks ago. They were doing baby dedications, talking about how God has blessed some people in our church with families, and I just started feeling like I must be doing something wrong. Anyone who reads this blog knows what I want most, what I want more than anything: to be a husband and a father. And I look around and I see people getting married and having kids and enjoying families, and I'm just trying to pay my bills and keep from drowning under the disappointment. And then during the sermon, Anthony J. talked about how culture--not least Christian culture--tells us what we should expect from God's hand if we are obedient; and he said that, sometimes, that's just not how things pan out, and we shouldn't ask, "What am I doing wrong?" but we should ask, "How is God wanting to use me here-and-now in this situation?"

I will concede that God may have plans for His people; I just don't think they're the kind of plans we necessarily want. God doesn't save us so that He can pamper us. He saves us that we will praise Him and bring Him the glory He deserves. He saves us so that we can be what we were intended to be all along: His image-bearers, rather than our own. All this talk about "God's plan for my life" is, ultimately, self-centered; it's asking, "What does God have planned for me?" We are still trying to advance our own kingdoms, our own agendas, and our own ambitions, except we're justifying it with religious lace. It's so easy to do, because our hearts are bent inwards on ourselves. In the words of Luther, we are "turned in" on ourselves. If God has plans for you, and if He has plans for me, they aren't plans to give us everything we want; they're plans in which we are used as tools to bring Him glory and work for His kingdom in the way that He sees fit. We belong to Him, not the other way around; we orbit around Him, He doesn't orbit around us. I need to remind myself of that, and often.

As far as God being in direct control of everyone's lives, so that He orchestrates every little detail, I don't believe that. I'm a moderate when it comes to the mechanics of how God's sovereignty works itself out in "real life"; on one end of the spectrum are the fatalist determinists, who teach that God is behind every raindrops and every lightning bolt and that He controls every step we take. If we trip on our shoelace, that was His doing, for His glory; if we fall out of a tree, He pushed us out. Gravity, physics, and human error aren't factors; they may look to be causes, but they are just the means by which God works out His purpose. Cancer, hurricanes, child soldiers, sex trafficking, genocide... God is behind it all. He's pulling the strings to bring all that about. On the other side of the spectrum is Open Theism: God isn't at all in control to the point that He doesn't even know what the future holds! As a moderate, I believe God is sovereign and in control; and I believe that the decision to do nothing, or to not intervene, or to allow a world of free, causal agents to exist, is in and of itself a sovereign decision. I believe in things like God's permissive will, His decretive will, and His causal will. 

I think the world makes more sense poised between God's will and man's will, and God actively working to bring man's will in line with His. The concept of "free will" was acknowledged in the earliest days of the church (go ahead, research it; it was one of John Calvin's "thorns in the side"); why are we to disregard the concept and condemn it as blasphemy just because a handful of reformers decided to do away with it?

I believe that the Bible teaches God's will for us is to do three things: believe in His Son, live holy lives, and strive to build His kingdom, all of these by the power of the Spirit. When we are doing these things, I believe we are perfectly in the will of God.

The New Testament does teach us that God has plans for His people, plans for you and plans for me--but these plans reach beyond the here-&-now. Our lives in this fallen world are but miniscule flickers in time compared to an unending Story in which we are to find ourselves. We focus so much on this life (and I am more guilty of this than anybody!) that we fail to perceive that God's plans for us stretch far beyond the temporal. We are here not to just bathe in God's blessings and rewards but to work for His kingdom and to become the sort of people who will thrive in God's new world. That world isn't here yet, and when we are surprised by the currents of our lives, we are failing to appreciate what the Bible makes so clear: we are pilgrims and strangers in this "present evil age," and this world as it stands isn't our home.