God Has No Plan B

"'Have you not heard?  Long ago I ordained it.  In days of old I planned it; now I have brought it to pass,.." (Isaiah 37:26, NIV; cf. 2 Kgs. 19:25).  
"There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the LORD" (Prov. 21:30, NIV).  
"The LORD has made everything for its purpose..." (Prov. 16:4, ESV).
"God doesn't play dice with the universe." --Einstein

Actually, God has no Plan A either!  We should ascribe to God the only Plan that is decreed, His Plan and since it will be fulfilled and God cannot fail, be thwarted, nor be frustrated, We don't call it Plan A, but simply God's Plan.  Job 42:2 says no plan of God can be thwarted!  THERE'S NO PLAN B OR BACKUP PLAN!   "The LORD Almighty has sworn, "Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand' (Isaiah 14:24, NIV).  He further says, "For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him?  His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?" (Isa. 14:27, NIV).  Providence is in play and John Wycliffe was right on in his famous tenet:  "All things come to pass of necessity."

As believers, we must realize that God is working all things for our good and turns curses into blessings and the evil one cannot touch us.  We must exercise an act of faith and realize that God does work in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform and that He is ultimately and always in control, both now and forever.  We should be in awe as God even causes "the wrath of man to praise Him!" (Cf. Psalm 76:10).  And our enemies may intend evil, but God works it out for the good and means to bless us in the long term.  The problem is that we don't see the big picture and are near-sighted spiritually.  Short-term evil can result in long-term good.  In fact, Wilhelm Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz saw this world as "the best of all possible worlds."  John Wycliffe would concur: "All things come to pas of necessity."

We must get on board with God to get the best will for our lives and for Him to bless us and that we don't have to settle or end up with second best.  God's will is done cheerfully and cooperatively in heaven and we are to pray for this on earth, according to the Lord's prayer.  In fact, His Plan will be accomplished with or without our cooperation!  God doesn't need us to do His Plan as if He needed anyone!  We have the privilege to participate in His blessings and provision, cooperating with Providence and proving God's good, pleasing, and perfect will (cf. Rom. 12:2). As believers, we ought to be committed to God's Plan and seeking to fulfill it at every opportunity and open door.  If we don't seek God's Plan or best for our life, God may say to us: "Okay, have it your way!" Then we will be in a state of disobedience.

In sum, God is not haphazard or arbitrary but has an intricate plan (life is no fluke!), of which we have the privilege to become partakers of in bringing Him glory as The Westminster Shorter Catechism states our purpose to be: "The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever."      Soli Deo Gloria!

Finishing Our Work

"I hope to see my Pilot face to face when I have crossed the bar."  (Alfred, Lord Tennyson).  
Note to the reader: Not to be morbid, but preparing for one's passing involves more than taking care of one's final expenses!  
OUR DAYS ARE DETERMINED AND PLANNED BEFOREHAND!  (CF.  PSALM 119:16).  
"In this meaningless life of mine I have seen both of these:  the righteous perishing in their righteousness, and the wicked living long in their wickedness" (Eccl. 7:15, NIV).  [The godly can perish before their time.]
"So He will do to me whatever He has planned.  He controls my destiny" (Job 23:14, NLT).

Paul thanked God and prayed he would complete his mission, which would be his greatest joy.  King David passed away, but having fulfilled God's purpose and having done all God's will (cf. Acts 20:24, 10:36).  It is true in a sense that we don't pass away till God is finished with us, which should be an incentive to do God's will and be ready.  We ought always to be ready to meet our Lord, for we know not when we will (cf. Amos 4:12).  Now Hezekiah was told directly from God to get his house in order because his time was short!  However, he objected and told the Lord that he was only in the prime of his life (it would be a shame!). Note that Matthew Henry said we ought to live every day as if it's our last.  Only God knows what we are here for and when our time is completed; we only see through a glass darkly--of which we will understand on the other side. (One mystery, or paradox that Scripture mentions, is that people who want to live often die, and those who would die, go on living. )

Now, the great question one must ask is whether the godly die before their time.  Yes, they can!  Isaiah 57:1, NLT, says so:  "Good people pass away; the godly often die before their time."  Some think that when no one needs them they will die, but God can always use a committed believer who is conformed to the pattern of His will.  We have no luxury of judging someone's life by its length.  It is good to live to be old, which is a luxury, but not all become wise.

We must acknowledge the wise wording of Solomon in Ecclesiastes 3:1ff that there is a time for every matter under heaven--including a time to die. Actually, the Bible declares the day of one's death better than the day of his birth!  "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his faithful servants" (Psalm 116:15, NIV).  Christians have the hope of eternal life due to Christ's resurrection that gave us reason to believe and this should be all the more motive and inspiration to live a life pleasing to Him, and not for the day only, but one day at a time in light of the Word and of eternity.

Therefore, let's all be looking forward to "crossing" (not passing) our bar and meeting the Lord in glory.  In the meantime, we are to live as if it's "one step between [us] and death!"  CAVEAT: WE MUST BEWARE LEST WE SIN UNTO DEATH (CF. 1 JOHN 5:16) AND GOD DECREE TO TAKE US BEFORE OUR TIME AS DIVINE DISPLEASURE!    Soli Deo Gloria! 

The Christian And Science

"Do you know the laws of the universe?  Can you use them to regulate the earth?" (Job 38:33, NLT).  
There is "no final conflict" [between science and Scripture]." --Francis Schaeffer

The National Academy of Science defines science as "The use of evidence to construct testable explanations and prediction of natural phenomena, as well  as the knowledge generated through this process ... and scientists gather information by observing the natural world and conducting experiments." --Dr. Jeff Myers in Understanding the Faith. It is my premise that science does not have all the answers but is only one avenue or vehicle of knowledge and truth, for all truth is God's truth, as Augustine said. In other words, you cannot measure three feet of love or six pounds of justice--values and principles are not subject to scientific analysis.  Scientists have faith in the reliability and predictability of the laws of the universe, while Christians believe in God of the universe who made the laws.  How can there be laws without a Lawgiver?  The first modern scientists laid its foundations assuming there's a God, how can they now deny the one they assume?  Basically, there are disciplines other than an empirical investigation to arrive at the truth:  ethics, mathematics, philosophy, and religion are all outside the scientist's parameters.

We can indeed learn by experience and empirical investigation, but rational thought and revelation are two other avenues of learning. All knowledge is contingent and springs from faith, not just religious!  Even music, art, and mathematics are beyond the scope of science and depend upon insight and rational or creative thinking.  There is objective truth that is true regardless of belief and true for everyone all the time, and then there is an opinion or subjective truth, such as one saying that broccoli tastes good. You cannot prove anything that isn't true, logical, and verifiable. 

Science wouldn't have been founded without an assumption of the Christian worldview of an orderly, predictable, and governed universe.  In fact, the first modern scientists were believers.  But today science has gone too far--they perpetuate the idea they can solve all man's problems.  Moreover, secularists use science for non-scientific endeavors and to solve problems which lie outside its province.  Many things simply cannot be answered by science: ethics, for example, is not in its domain.  Basically, science gives the know-how, not the know-why. Science takes things apart, while religion puts them together, it's been said!  But many things are not subject to scientific analysis, such as history and one-time events of the past, such as creation.  They weren't there and science relies on observation, repetition, measurement, and experiment!

Scientists have been known to make philosophical statements such as astronomer Carl Sagan said, "The Cosmos is all that is or was or ever will be."  Science doesn't give us answers to the ultimate questions, such as the meaning and purpose in life, and our final destiny.  What's so sad is that people put their faith in science when science is based on faith!  Scientists assume there's no God without evidence.  People that think science contradicts faith don't understand either.  Einstein said that science without religion is lame, and religion without science is blind!

It's not all a matter of facts or reason versus faith (and God doesn't ask us to leave our reason behind), but which set of presuppositions one wants to accept from the starting point of one's worldview.  Both sides have faith!  There's no smoking gun evidence either way. The mystery of life, of which science has no answer, can be answered by faith in God who causes all life to grow. In fact, there's no strict definition of life--science doesn't know what it is in essence!   But what we do know is that life comes only from life (biogenesis, which means spontaneous generation, or producing lifeforms from nonlife matter is impossible), as surely as DNA comes only from DNA!  Cloning is not producing life from nonlife, but another way of reproduction.  This begs the questions of where the first life and DNA came from if not God!  Experiments to achieve life fail to come off and this is the Achilles' heel of evolution.   Infinite regress is impossible--the chain of events had to start somewhere (notably a First Cause).  The Bible makes it plain that God created life and it's His gift and comes from Him, the Source and Author of life.

Teaching science dogmatically and ruling out God from the get-go is not scientific.  Scientists need to learn when they are becoming unscientific and venturing into scientism, or of harnessing science for unscientific means! Scientists must be aware that there is "scientific evidence" for the existence of God:  DNA; the anthropic principle; the Big Bang; the Second Law of Thermodynamics or entropy; and biogenesis!  The Bible is not a science textbook, but where it does make statements about scientific principles, it is right on--there are no scientific absurdities. They cannot explain away these phenomena!   All in all, true science doesn't contradict Christianity and there's no reason believers cannot become scientists.  (Though archaeologists have attempted in vain to disprove the Bible's historical accuracy, it has not yet controverted a biblical reference!)  

In conclusion, science sometimes seems to be at odds with the Bible, but it is always been proven wrong when at variance and the Bible correct after all, such as that the earth was the center of the solar system!  To name some examples of the Bible predating science:  the ocean currents, the anthropic principle, the beginning of time, the water cycle, the round earth to name a few notables!  According to Paul Little, in 1861, the French Academy of Science issued fifty-one scientific facts that "controverted the Scriptures!'  Today, none of these so-called "facts" are believed!  Someday, scientists will have to admit what theologians have been espousing--that "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth."  Soli Deo Gloria!