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Plan to Say, ‘God Willing’

Pastor: 

Pastor Mike

Sermon Date: 
June 29, 2009
Bible Passage: 

Prov. 16:9

            Do we truly have free will? That was the thought-provoking question posed to me after a recent tragedy. One of our members, pondering the sudden deaths of two young Lakeside graduates, wondered how much control we really have over our lives. “Did it have to happen that way?” he questioned. “Was it God’s divine plan that couldn’t be stopped or could those involved have made different choices?”

            It’s a challenging question. After all, we do believe God is all-powerful. We confess, “I believe in God the Father Almighty.” That Almighty God can do whatever he wants. If he wants a third arm to grow out of my forehead, he can do it. If he wants gravity to stop working, he could snap his fingers and we’d all float above the pews. The all-powerful God can make things happen, stop things from happening, and everything in between. He can restrict us, redirect us, or refrain from doing anything to us. So that leaves us with the lingering question—Do we truly have free will? If God is all-powerful, do we have the freedom to make choices about the future and direction of our lives? Are we in control or are we just puppets to his almighty will and plan?
            That tension has been troubling Christians for millennia. And over the years, they have bounced between two extremes: self-sufficiency on the one hand and fatalism on the other. Self sufficiency is the view that you have your plans and you are going to make them happen. You have the drive, the fire, and nothing will stop you from reaching your goals. Fatalism is the view that you have a fate and nothing you do will stop it from happening. If God has plans for your life, he’ll do it, so why bother making your own? That’s the tension.
            Perhaps two roommates can help us understand that. Self-Sufficient Sam and Fatalistic Fred shared a downtown apartment. As recent graduates, they were both beginning their search for employment, but they went about the process in very different ways. Sam had a plan. He had lists of where he would apply, books to read on doing a successful interview, timelines on what would happen during the next three months, and a budget on how he would spend his first paycheck. Sam had a plan and he was going to make it happen. Fred, on the other hand, had no plan. “God has a place for me to work,” he thought, “so why should I spend all my time running around with my own plan? God’s will is going to be done, so why stand in his way?” And propping a pillow under his neck, Fred turned on the game and relaxed for the evening.
            You might see some wisdom in either of those approaches, but in reality they are spiritually dangerous. What might happen to Sam? He works and works and works to carry out his plan and it fails. And he leaves disillusioned with life and with God, “I did everything I could. God, why didn’t you take care of me?” And what might happen to Fred? The weeks go by and no one calls offering him a job. The food starts to run out. He’s down to two boxes of ramen noodles and he starts to get disillusioned with God. “I thought you had a plan. God, why didn’t you take care of me?” Both men come crashing into reality and their faith is shaken. 
            But God never points us to those extremes. As we wrestle with this tension of our free will and God’s almighty plan, our Lord never tells us to be self-sufficient or fatalistic. He knows where that leads. It’s like this rope (a rope is over a bar with both ends hanging towards the ground). Picture one end of this rope being our free will and the other end being God’s almighty plan. If I want to hang above the ground, what do I have to do? Well I can’t just grab onto free will. If I do, I’ll come crashing to the ground. And I can’t just grab onto God’s plan or the same thing will happen. Either choice, Sam’s self-sufficiency or Fred’s fatalism, leaves us in the same place—on the floor, hurt and disillusioned.
            That’s exactly what God’s Word says. In James 4 we heard the apostle say, “Now listen, you why say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow.” You think it’s all about your plan? No way, James says. How can you lay out your life plans when you don’t know what will happen tomorrow?! And the apostle Paul confronts the other extreme. Some Christians in the 1st century were sitting around, waiting for Jesus to return, refusing to work and relying on God to provide for them. And Paul scolded them, “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.” Don’t just sit there and put God to the test. Get up and go to work! God wants us to avoid either extreme.
            This all might seem theoretical, but I bet you have put your weight on one end of this rope or the other in your life. Maybe it was with marriage. Maybe you had plans to get married in your 20’s and have kids in your 30’s. You had your life set and your plans made. But it didn’t happen. Now you’re 38 and still single and you feel a little disillusioned with God. Or maybe you took the other route, leaving marriage all to fate, praying to God that he would bring the right woman into your life according to his divine plan. And so you sat there every Friday night on your couch, just waiting for the attractive and charming pizza lady to knock on your door so your “happily ever after” could start. If so, you’re probably a little disillusioned with God’s plan. She never showed up!
            Or maybe that happened with your finances. You had plans to work until you were 62. Your financial guy told you that by that time, with an average 10% return, you’d have plenty to enjoy your senior years. You had the vacations mapped out and the cottage ready for your arrival. You put all your weight on your plans and then “boom!”—it all came crashing down. Now you’re looking for part-time work, disillusioned that this is how your life turned out. Or maybe you took the fatalistic route, convinced that money is a gift of God and he’ll give it to you when the time is right. So you didn’t plan for retirement. You didn’t take your education seriously. You spent your money and now it’s all gone. And you don’t have any to pay the rent. And God still hasn’t floated that check down from heaven. And you feel confused, disillusioned with God.
            Friends, we live every day with that tension. And if we don’t understand the biblical answer to our questions, we come crashing down. But there is a better way, a biblical way, to approach your future. God’s answer might best be summed up with this rope. If you want to put all your weight on this rope and not come crashing to the ground, what do you have to do? You need to take hold of both ends, don’t you?  You have to put one hand on free will, the ability to plan and to take action, and your other hand on God’s power. Only when you grasp both of those truths will you be able to avoid the great crash.
            Listen to how God puts it. Proverbs 16:9 says, “In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.” The Lord has the final call. His power and plan can redirect our lives at any time in any direction. And so we put one hand on his will. And listen to what James says, “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city’…You don’t even know what will happen tomorrow…Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’” You ought to make plans, to use your free will to decide, to put the other hand on the rope, but then say, “If it is the Lord’s will.” That’s the perfect answer to the eternal tension. We will use our minds, our strength, our ideas, and our dreams to plan for our futures. We won’t just sit there. But we always will leave room for God to intervene. We will plan every bit and then say, “If God wills it.”
            Brothers and sisters, we can hold onto that tension without worrying about our future because we know God loves us. That much is not hidden. He showed us his will in 1080p high def when Jesus came to this earth. When we were dead in sin, when we had no free will to save ourselves or to choose God, Jesus chose us. In the clearest way, God’s Word tells us Jesus died for our sins, sins of self-sufficiency, doubt, and despair. In full disclosure, God puts his heart on display and we know, as an undisputable, undeniable, unbreakable fact, our Father cares for us immensely.
            So when we approach life, it never has to be with fear or worry. If God intervenes with his almighty will, if he redirects our thought-out plans for life, we never have to panic because he is a Father who loves us. So make your tentative plans with God in mind. Fill out your budget and say, “God willing.” Sign the application and say, “God willing.” Apply for that college and say, “God willing.” Look forward to retirement and say, “God willing.” Set a date for the wedding and say, “God willing.” Try out for the team and say, “God willing.” Plan every bit and then say, “If God wills it.”
            I’ll leave you today with one of the best examples of this principle I’ve ever seen. Pastor Bob Knippel, who serves on the west side of Madison, shared with me this prayer he and his wife often say about their children. “God, we are so thankful for our family. We plan to spend decades watching them grow and mature. We ask you to make that happen. But, Lord, if tonight is the last night of their lives, it’s been enough. We thank you for blessing us with this time. May your will be done.” That’s a godly attitude. As we plan our week, our year, our lives, may that be our prayer, too. As we freely make our plans, may God’s will be done. Amen.

 

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Eastside Evangelical Lutheran Church and School
2310 Independence Lane Madison, WI 53704
Phone: 608-244-3045 info@eastsidelutheran.orglogin