Commit to the Lord whatever you do,
and he will establish your plans.
The Lord works out everything to its proper end—
even the wicked for a day of disaster.
Proverbs 16:3-4
You ever hear of people saying: "It's all part of God's plan"? It seems a natural thing that people say, doesn't it? Why do people say that? Honestly, I think people say that simply because it sounds like a nice thing to say. When people really don't know what to say, or don't have an answer to something, they default to that statement.
Is it true? Is everything that happens really part of God's plan?
You say: why do you care Rick? It makes people feel better in a tough situation, doesn't it? It's not hurting anything.
I believe it does hurt. I believe it's these kinds of statements that encourage follow up statements, like: "How could a loving God allow this to happen?"
ahhh, now that's a bigger question, isn't it? That's dangerous! Many Christians start to doubt God just by thinking about that question. Why would God allow these bad things to happen?
Maybe we shouldn't be trying to answer that question. Maybe the question itself doesn't make sense. Maybe we're wrong when we say everything that happens is "God's plan." Did God plan for Cain to murder Able? Did God plan for Eve to take the fruit from the tree? No, that wasn't God's plan! Then why did it happen? Maybe we should go all the way back to God's original plan.
Why did God create the world? Why did He create humans? Isaiah 43:7 says that He primarily created us for His glory. He wants us to love Him. In order to love someone, you must be given the choice. As a result, He gave us free will. So, in order to achieve His ultimate goal, which is for us to love Him, we must have the free will so we can choose to do so. If we can choose to love Him, that automatically means we can also choose NOT to love Him.
From our side, that might sound crazy, right? I mean, look how many people have chosen NOT to love Him. I think it's the majority. Clearly he thought the decision to give us free will was still worth it, even knowing that only a few would choose Him.
So, are all the bad and good things that happen in the world all part of God's plan? No, they're not. His original plan had no death and no sin. It is because of our decisions as humans that all these bad things happen in this world.
Do you know what's cool, though? even among the chaos in this world, God does provide a plan for anyone who still decides to love Him. Isn't that awesome? First, He enabled it by dying on the cross to erase the debt of our sin, which then opens the door up for us to fellowship with Him, and follow a very specific plan for our life.
So, in summary, is everything that happens in this world part of God's plan? No.
But, if I turn my life over to God, I can be assured that God has made a plan for me that I can follow that will navigate through this life and ultimately spend eternity with Him.
