‘I love it when a plan comes together.’ – Colonel John Smith, ‘The A-Team’
You don’t have to be the leader of an awesome crime-fighting team to relate with this statement; we all are involved with some measure of planning all throughout our lives—like the saying goes, ‘You fail to plan, you plan to fail.’ Be it planning your day, your weekend, your essay, or your job, you put things in place to try and make sure things work out the way you would like them to. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t. Over time, some of us slowly learn to compromise in our vision of how things should go, while others struggle with control issues and tend to freak out when things don’t go according to plan. Most of us try to work in contingencies in the event unexpected things happen—a Plan A, Plan B, Plan C; some end up going through both the English and Greek alphabets in their scheming.
Let’s pause for a panoramic view for a second. Why is it that we can’t seem to plan perfectly? I would suggest it is because we do not KNOW everything, cannot SEE everything, and cannot DO everything. With imperfect knowledge, a lack of absolute power and an inability to be everywhere at once, we are ill-equipped to come up with perfect plans. Even if we had the ability, we are simply unable to process and comprehend it all. To put it plainly, we cannot produce perfection because we are imperfect.
The Master Planner
This is just one of the incalculable ways we are different from God—specifically the One true and living God, the God of the Bible. If we take the God of the Bible at His word and His revelation of Himself, we find three attributes of His that make Him fully equipped in His planning—the Omnis of God’s nature.
Note: Omni is a Latin word that can simply be translated to mean ‘all’, or encompassing the totality of something. While the following terms might not be explicitly written in the Bible, their essence can be found.
- Omniscience: The word ‘science’ gets its root from another Latin word, and can be translated as ‘knowledge’ or ‘to know’. Put together then, this word can then be defined as to be all-knowing’ or to know all, and this is one of the attributes of God we find described in the Bible:
Isa. 40:13-14 – ‘Who is able to advise the Spirit of the LORD? Who knows enough to give Him advice or teach Him? Has the LORD ever needed anyone’s advice? Does He need instruction about what is good? Did someone teach Him what is right or show Him the path of justice?’ (NLT)
His knowledge encompasses all things, from the corridors of time and space (Isa. 46:9-10; Isa. 40:12), to the thoughts and intentions of our hearts (Ps. 139:1-3; Heb. 4:13). This perfect knowledge means that when He made His plans, He already had all the information that can be acquired, and therefore has no need to revise or update His plans because nothing is a surprise to Him.
- Omnipresence: The word ‘presence’ in our use here can be defined as being or existing at a particular place at a particular time. Put together, this word can be translated as the ability to be everywhere.
Jer. 23:23-24 – ‘Am I a God who is only close at hand?” says the LORD. “No, I am far away at the same time. Can anyone hide from Me in a secret place? Am I not everywhere in all the heavens and earth?” says the LORD.’ (NLT)
Again, His presence encompasses all things, from the corridors of time and space (Rev. 1:8; Ps. 139:7-10), to the very lives and gatherings of His people (Isa. 57:15, John 14:16; Matt. 18:20). His nature of being everywhere all the time means He does not need to rely on anyone to work out His plan; He is never absent from where He needs to be, and therefore cannot be caught unawares by any event, nor can He be hidden from. There is nowhere in all of creation that is beyond His reach.
- Omnipotence: The use of ‘potent’ here means ‘power’, and as you have probably guessed, this word can be taken to mean to be all-powerful.
Dan. 4:34c-35 – ‘…His rule is everlasting, and His kingdom is eternal. All the people of the earth are nothing compared to Him. He does as He pleases among the angels of heaven and among the people of the earth. No one can stop Him or say to Him, ‘What do You mean by doing these things?’’ (NLT)
He is and has been and will always be all-powerful; being God, none can strong-arm Him or bend Him to his/her will. This also means, as the text above highlighted, His plan cannot be unravelled, for ‘No human wisdom or understanding or plan can stand against the LORD.’ (Prov. 21:30, NLT)
With these three attributes in His nature (along with many others), God is able to make perfect plans. In fact, we are made to understand that all that time is, is simply the working out and fulfilment of His eternal plan which He laid out before the creation of the world (Eph. 1:3-6, Eph. 2:10).
“Don’t I Get A Say in This?”
Some might ask then, that if everything is just a working out of a grand plan that was decided even before we were born, then what is the point of it all, or the point in making plans, if indeed none can go against God’s plan. From our perspective this is a very fair and valid question; it is a question that might need to be addressed more extensively in a separate post, but I will touch on it briefly.
Our lives, decisions and actions are a part of the masterpiece that God has designed; you can think of it as being an artwork coming to life. Whether you choose to be a hue of pink, red, yellow or blue—it is your choice. However, God’s sovereignty and, well, Godness, means He was already aware of your choice in colour, and whatever you choose is already part of His pre-ordained role for you to play. This is not the only confounding thought though; it is also amazing that He is not just passive in it all, but also guides and shapes the choices we make, in that ALL of us reject His help and guidance in how to contribute to this masterpiece, but some He graciously chooses to show the bigger picture and thereby enable them to play the beautiful roles He has for them.
(Now, how our decisions fit into His sovereignty is something I will not presume to understand or be able to explain, but if He indeed is all-knowing, all-seeing and all-powerful, then would this really be something that would be out of His ability to perform?)
Anyone who brings up any questions of fairness must remember, above being the Creator and being free to do whatever He wants, He is under no obligation to be gracious to anyone. We all want and choose to live our lives our own way, but for reasons known only to Him, He enables some to live the right way. Therefore, what you are really arguing for is not justice for all, but mercy for all, and that is a whole other discussion.
The Application
So what does this all mean for you? Well, different things. It means God has a plan for your life, and desires that all men everywhere would repent of their sins and put their trust in His Son, Jesus Christ, for the salvation of their souls (Acts 17:26-31). It means that you are not a mistake (Ps. 139:13-18). It also means that when in need of wisdom, counsel or direction, He is the best source of help (Jas. 1:5; Ps. 32:8; Prov. 3:5-6).
In our planning, we ought to commit it all to Him, relying not in our own avenues or devises, but upon His grace and blessing (Jas. 4:13-16; Prov. 16:1). And when things don’t go how we planned, rather than throwing tantrums, the believer is encouraged to trust the sovereign Hand that we commit our plans to, and believe that He causes it all to work out for good.
Rom. 11:33 – ‘Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand His decisions and His ways!’ (NLT)
