No More Plan B’s

We resolve to no longer have a Plan B.

It is the Plan B’s of life that get us into trouble.  Plan B was Abraham’s Hagar and Ishmael.  Plan B was Jacob’s scheme to get the birthright.  Plan B was Noah’s daughters’ plan to give their daddy a male heir.  Plan B was Hezekiah’s desire to be secure, so he created an alliance with Egypt.  Plan B was Saul’s frustration with a prophet who was late, so he decided to act like a prophet…this lost him the kingdom.  Plan B was Abraham’s lie about Sarah being his sister and not his wife. Abraham used that Plan B twice…some people just don’t learn.

Plan B’s are born during periods of waiting.  We don’t like to wait.  Therefore, we spend our time inventing a plan so that if God doesn’t come through, we have something to fall back on.

Plan B uses a credit card when you just can’t wait any longer on God to meet your need; you met your need, but you created debt with 14% interest.  Plan B exaggerates an application for employment with more experience or education than you have. (Ask the coach who did this in order to realize his life long dream of being the head football coach at Notre Dame; he got the job, but was fired a week later in total humiliation because he used Plan B and exaggerated his application.)

Plan A is simple.  God invented it.  He has the instructions on how to carry out Plan A.  It is stated in Psalm 37:23, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in his way.”  Our response to His Plan A is found in Psalm 31:15, “My times are in Your hand.”  We need to simply wait for His timing.

We will wait…we are stuck with enough Plan B consequences in our lives.  We will wait…it’s  been a year this month since I had a “real” job.  But if we hadn’t had this year, we would not have learned from the Song of Songs that God is ravished by us.   We would not have learned from Esther about “finding favor with the king”.   We would have missed the material on “the dark night of the soul” and the fact that God is in the darkness.  We wouldn’t have begun to see that God delays answers to prayers in order to produce a greater maturity and fruitfulness in us.   Actually… it hasn’t been a bad year…and God has provided for us.  

 

I think this is what Oswald Chambers meant when he used the phrase ‘recklessly abandoned’.  It simple means we get rid of all of our Plan B’s.

Thank you for your love and support for us during this year.

 

We love yall,

Billy and Sheilah