Plan B?

Actually, it's a bit of an intentionally "trick" question. What prompted it is thinking about the situation we're all facing (same storm/different boats) and something I saw talking about that old topic - God's Sovereignty. So no out-of-context verse on this one today (nope, not even about "plans" from Jeremiah). Just my thoughts that I've gathered through the years.

First, let's get one thing straight. I still believe God sees and knows all. I realize some who knew me in the past (like 40+ years ago) may think I've gone off the deep end where my belief system is concerned. That's not for a big, public discussion but I'd be happy to entertain some individual chats about it (Zoom away!)

This is about what I used to hear (and subscribed to) about "perfect will vs. permissive will". Essentially, that's a Plan A with a Plan B contingency. As I now understand it, that's a fictional invention of people who try to explain away problems and challenges they just can't comprehend. But to me, that's the point - some of them are incomprehensible to begin with. And I'm fine with that.

It comes down to my belief that God is God and I'm not privy to everything he knows, does, or sees. Rather than a continuum of time, I view it as a circle with God in the center, present at every point in what we experience as "time" and cognizant of it all. From that position - and that's where he's always been - he enacts his Great Story that begins with his first gift to us of Free Will. Our choices, while they impact our lives, don't change him, his perspective, or his Great Story of Redemption. He doesn't force us, or demand from us. Instead, he's there in the midst of our choices and the resulting consequences.

I see our current situation from the same perspective. Yes, we're in the midst of a terrible battle against a disease. People are dying and more will. People will have financial and emotional challenges. Many will play the "if only we had ..." game and drive themselves to frustration. But while, in general, "hope is not a strategy" I can say with a calm assurance that Hope is still present because I base it in the one who is at the center. And he's not a weak God waiting on our choice so he can alter his plan. There is no "Plan B". In the great mystery that is God, it was always Plan A - the Great Story of Redemption.

May you find some comfort in the Hope that God's Sovereignty isn't some manipulative or weak attribute. No, it's strong, it's mysterious beyond our imagination, and it is the foundation of Hope in a difficult time I think of as the Crooked Path.