No Plan "B"

Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for Him. (Psalm 37:5-7)

If you have ever worked for a business that does "projects" then you can relate to this. First you get the assignment to do some project, then you have to go off and do your project plan. Research, study, and put together the plan that will accomplish the goals that have been set out. With the plan in hand, you go to work on the project. It's a very goal-oriented (dare I say "purpose driven") approach to things.

Given the limits of human nature -- the inability to control every variable -- planning everything out in advance is a fairly rational way to do things. Inevitably, though, something will come up that wasn't planned for. That's the point where the manager will say something like, "So, what's your plan B." That means, what contingencies did you take into account in your plan and what alternatives do you have waiting for those contingencies. Again, it's a very rational way to handle things from a worldly perspective.

Unfortunately, as is so often the case, people drag all their worldly-rational attitudes into the life of the spirit. They never seem to break free from the limited view of man controlling things by himself. Once again, God's ways are not our ways. He doesn't need a plan B. He isn't going to fail in His plan but will always bring it to completion.

Psalm 37 speaks of this. First we are to "commit thy way unto the Lord." That means, we roll the burden that we face over to Him and say, "You deal with this because I can't." Next, we "trust also in him." It isn't enough to just commit our way to Him. To say we have committed our problems to Him and then go out and try to make it work through our own will is a contradiction. It's a kind of plan B mentality that says that in case God can't get it done, I'll be working on it too. I have noticed that when I do that, God tends to just sit back and wait. When I get really frustrated and finally am willing to totally trust Him, then He steps in and does His thing. When I get rid of plan B is when the final part happens: "and He shall bring it to pass."

This is faith then. Total commitment and trust and patience that God will do it. When my plan is to do it through faith in God, then I don't need a plan B.

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