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Do you really believe that all things work together for good if you love God? I’m claiming that with God, “It’s All Plan A.” That means I can be assured that nothing can frustrate the good plans he has for me.
Many of us grew up with a Cinderella delusion—the “happily-ever-after” belief that somehow our dreams really would come true and we would live happily-ever-after. Translate this to a Christian worldview, and we conclude that God will make our lives good and easy and give us our dreams because he’s God, and he loves us, and he’ll give us what we want. Isn’t that what believing in God is all about? He’s there to make our dreams come true?!
But then, the rubber hits the road and life hits us in the face and we question God’s sovereignty. How could this be for my good? If God knows everything and controls everything, why would he allow this to happen to me since it’s obviously so bad, so hurtful, so devastating? Your faith in God’s sovereignty may be pretty weak because you can’t see evidence of his hand in your life right now. Are you wondering if it really is true that it’s all Plan A with God?
Listen to this truth from Isaiah 61:1b-3:
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion—to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair. They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.
I want to confidently affirm that because he is a God of mercy and grace, and because he turns deserts into gardens and ashes into beauty, his Plan A for you includes redeeming your life where it is right now and using everything you’ve been through, every hardship you’ve faced, every dream that has been dashed to make you into a “planting of the Lord for the display of his splendor.” You must choose to believe that by faith whether you feel it or not.
When you can’t trace his hand, trust his heart. It’s all Plan A!