Does "It's all in God's Plan" Make Sense?
Three Interpretations of "God's Plan"
The preacher on a Netflix show proclaims that the truck accident that has put the single-parent in a coma, is God’s plan to test the congregation.1
“It’s all in God’s Plan” brings a lot of people comfort. It often roots out of some of these famous Bible verses:
In their hearts, humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps. Proverbs 16:9
For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11
What does it mean that God has a plan for us?
Theologians have contemplated, debated, and discussed some more what this may mean. This is not a modern discussion. Theologians have been considering God’s plan since the time of Paul. Here are three of the major interpretations of God’s Plan:
The Plan is Predestined - Everything is already Ordered
The Plan includes Good and Bad in our Lives - God is testing and teaching us
The Plan is for our salvation & Redemption - God Has Dreams for Us and Guides us toward a better life on earth.
The Plan is Predestined
In this interpretation of God’s Plan, God has ordered everything that happens to us and we follow the script. Free choice becomes imaginary. This view protects the idea that God is unchanging (not Biblical)2 and omniscient (all-knowing).
John Calvin, erroneously, gets the credit for this idea. In his 1,800-page magnum theological opus The Institutes (1541), predestination is found in the middle of the third volume. It was not intended as the be-all and end-all of Calvin’s thoughts on theology. Calvin’s predestination does not mean that everything we do is preordained. Instead, Calvin’s predestination is a declaration that God chooses who is saved and who is lost and we are to live like all are saved.
Pros and Cons
If God has ordered everything, this brings comfort as it accounts for our sins, failures, and the bad stuff that happens. God gets the glory and the blame. We are just along for the ride. This frees us from responsibility. Particularly the responsibility to change to be more like Jesus.
The main con of The Plan is Predestined is that it is not Biblical. Jesus came to redeem sinners. Paul talks often about how we should behave to be a better Christian. The Old Testament is filled with examples of God calling people to change and to follow including Abraham, Sarah, Moses, Ruth, Samuel, David, and all of the prophets.
The Plan Includes Good and Bad in Our Lives
God’s Plan, here, is intended to change us. God sends/allows the bad stuff to happen. Since God lets this stuff happen, this theory says, then it should be easier to accept because we can learn something and improve our spiritual gifts or faith skills.
Paul writes in Romans 8:28: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Many see this as confirmation that God is sending/allowing the good and the bad to happen so that God can bring good out of it.
Pros and Cons
The key pro for this God’s Plan iinterpretation is that God’s omnipotent (All-mighty) power is protected. God is letting bad stuff happen. And God brings good out of it.
The reason many people struggle with this interpretation is that it’s hard to believe God is loving when terrible things happen. In my pastoral life, I have ministered in all of these situations:
The sudden death of the high school quarterback
The sophomore who takes care of little sisters when his parents are drunk
The 12-year-old who shoots himself in sadness
The broken marriage with cheating only 3 weeks after the wedding
The acts of sexual and other violence
The 4-month-old who dies of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome
None of these events make any sense that a loving God would send/allow them to teach people a lesson.
Is This Loving?
As I sat listening to a college student cry after an act of violence, I prayed, “God why does this stuff keep happening?” I cannot fathom a loving God sending this violence to teach a lesson, test our faith, or because of a sin the student committed. If God is a loving Parent, I can see no way God’s Plan causes this horrible stuff to happen to God’s children for a teachable moment.
The Plan is for our Salvation & Redemption
Another way of understanding the bad stuff that happens is that God allows it AND God weeps too. This sets aside the deterministic understanding of God’s plan. With this interpretation, we have to live with the ambiguity of God allowing terrible things to happen. This version of God’s Plan does not attribute any good as being why God allows it.
God plans that through Jesus sinful people can be saved and redeemed. The Plan is about saving all people from living a life apart from God. In Jesus, we are saved and can experience the Kingdom of God now, and in the future Heaven. Our redemption and sanctification involve God, through Jesus and the Holy Spirit transforming us into better people.
Bad stuff happens. God weeps with us.
Like the last interpretation of God’s Plan, God is allowing (but not sending) the bad stuff. But here God in no way lets it happen as a teaching example. Instead, Emmanuel (God with Us) goes through the pain right alongside us.
The Triune God weeps in scripture:
Jesus weeps at Lazarus’ grave - John 11:35
On the approach to Jerusalem (Palm Sunday) Jesus weeps for the city - Luke 19:41
God weeps for the fallen. Jeremiah 9:1-2: “Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night for the slain of my people.”
Pros and Cons
The good news here is that God is truly always with us. We are never alone. The obvious con is that we still have no answer to the “Why God, Why?” which we pray while suffering. The tornado, the tsunami, the sudden heart attack, the shootings, none of it is explained as to why God lets it happen. It is hard to be a Christian and live with this level of ambiguity.
The Good News
The good news is that Jesus Christ came to save people and redeem the world. As with most theology, we do not have to agree with each other. As an interim pastor, I often see churches where all three of these interpretations of God’s Plan exist.
But…
When the crisis arrives, this is not the time to project our definition onto others. Never mention God’s Plan at memorial services, hospital ERs, or other crisis times. Now it’s time for “I’m so sorry, “We’re here for you,” “This is awful.” Then be quiet and listen to the hurting ones. Be a calm, comforting presence.
Good Times to Discuss the Meanings of God’s Plan
The best place to talk about our interpretations of God’s Plan is around tables. Classroom tables, Bible & Brew tables, youth group tables, and social hall tables during Bible studies or other classes. When we talk theology be ready to share where we learned our understandings and to discover what the Bible says (and doesn’t say). Last, be ready to encourage each other when our theologies differ.
The Netflix show is “The Chosen One” about a 12-year-old boy who may be able to do miracles. The show is a Mexican filmed show based on a graphic novel called “American Jesus.” The show is complex, interesting, and ultimately scary. It is not for children. High schoolers might have a good conversation with their youth leader about it.
When theologians say God is unchanging, they are usually referring to God’s essential nature of always being loving. The Bible is filled with examples of God changing God’s mind and having different emotions from joy to anger, to hope.