NB: The title is a misnomer because God only has one plan and it will take place (cf. Isa. 14:24,27; 46:10; Job 42:2)--He needs no Plan B!
Doris Day's song "Que Sera, Sera" in which she sings, "...What will be, will be, The future's not ours to see, What will be, will be, Que sera, sera..." is a resignation that you have to have a philosophy of a "stiff upper lip" or "grin and bear it,"no matter what--let the chips fall where they may! You must become more adaptable and learn to roll with the punches, they say. But we have a loving God who knows us personally and is involved on a personal level with us as individuals, and we don't have to be stoical, but can cheerful and rejoice in all circumstances, knowing that we can bring glory to God and "all things work together for good" as it says in Romans 8:28. God will never overwhelm us and let us be tempted above our ability to resist: "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you..." (Isaiah 43:2, ESV). "...[H]e will not let you be tempted beyond your ability.." (1 Cor. 10:13, ESV).
We don't have to be discouraged that we have messed up our lives beyond repair because God is in control and took all our shortcomings and failures into account when He thought up our destiny out of the top of His head before we were created. We don't have a fate that cannot be altered by our volition, but a destiny that we will willingly comply and cooperate with to complete. If our destiny is to be a maestro, we must work at it with all our might. David says in Psalm 31:15 (NASB): "My times are in Your hand...." Another rendering would be "My future is in [God's] hands."
Everything happens according to God's timetable and timeline, not ours; for this reason, we ought always to be patient, awaiting His time: "There is an appointed time for everything And there is a time for every event under heaven...He has made everything appropriate [or beautiful] in its time..." (Ecclesiastes 3:1,11, NASB). We have a future and a hope according to Jeremiah 29:11 (NASB) because God has a specific plan tailored for each of us: "For I know the plans that I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope."
It is beyond comprehension, but in God's profundity that we cannot ever fully apprehend (even in eternity), that God wrote out in his plans all the days of our lives just how they should transpire: "...and in Your book were all written / The days that were ordained for me, / When as yet there was not one of them" (Psalm 139:16, NASB). This may be termed the providence of God and the Puritans referred to it quite frequently, and even Lincoln did after his conversion, but it was not rhetorical but another way of referring to the sovereignty of God over all details, small and great in our lives.
John Wycliffe's tenet: "All things come to pass of necessity" and Ephesians 1:11, says, "He accomplishes all things according to the counsel of His will," or "...works all things according to the counsel of His will" (NASB). Nothing happens that God does not direct or permit (He knows even what could be and took that into consideration), using either vessel of honor or dishonor--the good or the evil. It seems like He uses evil more, but there is so much more of it to make use of! God's will be done, with or without our cooperation, either willingly or unwillingly, because He is sovereign, and He wouldn't be God if He weren't in control of everything, and that means there are no maverick molecules in the cosmos beyond His sovereign watchful eye.
God has no Plan B (in fact we shouldn't even label His plans, for God needs no backup plan) and we didn't mess Him up. frustrate, or thwart Him by our sin or evil, but He works through and despite it. In the kingdom of God in eternity His will be done on earth as it is in heaven (willingly and cheerfully). It is never too late to do God's will or "get your act together" if you will pardon the expression, and get with the program! The eleventh-hour prophet can accomplish as much as the one who has worked all his life if God is with him. Soli Deo Gloria!
Doris Day's song "Que Sera, Sera" in which she sings, "...What will be, will be, The future's not ours to see, What will be, will be, Que sera, sera..." is a resignation that you have to have a philosophy of a "stiff upper lip" or "grin and bear it,"no matter what--let the chips fall where they may! You must become more adaptable and learn to roll with the punches, they say. But we have a loving God who knows us personally and is involved on a personal level with us as individuals, and we don't have to be stoical, but can cheerful and rejoice in all circumstances, knowing that we can bring glory to God and "all things work together for good" as it says in Romans 8:28. God will never overwhelm us and let us be tempted above our ability to resist: "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you..." (Isaiah 43:2, ESV). "...[H]e will not let you be tempted beyond your ability.." (1 Cor. 10:13, ESV).
We don't have to be discouraged that we have messed up our lives beyond repair because God is in control and took all our shortcomings and failures into account when He thought up our destiny out of the top of His head before we were created. We don't have a fate that cannot be altered by our volition, but a destiny that we will willingly comply and cooperate with to complete. If our destiny is to be a maestro, we must work at it with all our might. David says in Psalm 31:15 (NASB): "My times are in Your hand...." Another rendering would be "My future is in [God's] hands."
Everything happens according to God's timetable and timeline, not ours; for this reason, we ought always to be patient, awaiting His time: "There is an appointed time for everything And there is a time for every event under heaven...He has made everything appropriate [or beautiful] in its time..." (Ecclesiastes 3:1,11, NASB). We have a future and a hope according to Jeremiah 29:11 (NASB) because God has a specific plan tailored for each of us: "For I know the plans that I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope."
It is beyond comprehension, but in God's profundity that we cannot ever fully apprehend (even in eternity), that God wrote out in his plans all the days of our lives just how they should transpire: "...and in Your book were all written / The days that were ordained for me, / When as yet there was not one of them" (Psalm 139:16, NASB). This may be termed the providence of God and the Puritans referred to it quite frequently, and even Lincoln did after his conversion, but it was not rhetorical but another way of referring to the sovereignty of God over all details, small and great in our lives.
John Wycliffe's tenet: "All things come to pass of necessity" and Ephesians 1:11, says, "He accomplishes all things according to the counsel of His will," or "...works all things according to the counsel of His will" (NASB). Nothing happens that God does not direct or permit (He knows even what could be and took that into consideration), using either vessel of honor or dishonor--the good or the evil. It seems like He uses evil more, but there is so much more of it to make use of! God's will be done, with or without our cooperation, either willingly or unwillingly, because He is sovereign, and He wouldn't be God if He weren't in control of everything, and that means there are no maverick molecules in the cosmos beyond His sovereign watchful eye.
God has no Plan B (in fact we shouldn't even label His plans, for God needs no backup plan) and we didn't mess Him up. frustrate, or thwart Him by our sin or evil, but He works through and despite it. In the kingdom of God in eternity His will be done on earth as it is in heaven (willingly and cheerfully). It is never too late to do God's will or "get your act together" if you will pardon the expression, and get with the program! The eleventh-hour prophet can accomplish as much as the one who has worked all his life if God is with him. Soli Deo Gloria!
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