Tuesday, December
18, 2018
He had hardly finished speaking the words when the ground suddenly split open beneath them. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed the men, along with their households and all their followers who were standing with them, and everything they owned. So they went down alive into the grave, along with all their belongings. The earth closed over them, and they all vanished from among the people of Israel. All the people around them fled when they heard their screams. “The earth will swallow us, too!” they cried. Then fire blazed forth from the Lord and burned up the 250 men who were offering incense. Numbers 16:31-35(NLT)
He will give justice to the poor and make fair decisions for the exploited. The earth will shake at the force of his word, and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked. He will wear righteousness like a belt and truth like an undergarment. Isaiah 11:4-5(NLT)
So a time was set, and on that day a large number of people came to Paul’s lodging. He explained and testified about the Kingdom of God and tried to persuade them about Jesus from the Scriptures. Using the law of Moses and the books of the prophets, he spoke to them from morning until evening. Some were persuaded by the things he said, but others did not believe. And after they had argued back and forth among themselves, they left with this final word from Paul: “The Holy Spirit was right when he said to your ancestors through Isaiah the prophet, ‘Go and say to this people: When you hear what I say, you will not understand. When you see what I do, you will not comprehend. For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes—so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them.’ So I want you to know that this salvation from God has also been offered to the Gentiles, and they will accept it.” Acts 28:23-28(NLT)
The authors of these passages, Moses,
Isaiah, and Luke, were spread out over roughly 1600 years. But their theme is consistent and foreboding: God’s Plan-B!
Plan-B does not suggest Plan A was
deficient; certainly not in God’s plans.
God only goes to a secondary plan because humans must find out how
deficient we are in preferring God’s perfect will over our own. Indeed, the Law, Moses’ stern collection of thou
shalt not’s was only a teacher of how unable and unwilling we are
to obey.
Moses’ passage in Numbers recounts
Korah’s rebellion, how some of the Exodus Israelites wanted to usurp Moses
being the leader. God opened the mouth
of the earth and swallowed them up. Plan-B
was severe!
Isaiah pointed to the Second
Coming of Christ, when he will fix our broken justice system for all eternity. Our plan A for being fair and honest with our
fellow humans has been misused, abused and gridlocked for generations.
And Paul tried to reason with God’s
Israelite nation that Jesus was the Messiah, only to meet with religious pride,
arrogance and a debate from morning till nighttime. He finally had to announce what made him an
enemy of the Jews – God had blessed the Gentiles to receive His Son…Plan-B! The Lord’s petulant Jewish family was in for
a woodshed experience…again!
Different eras, same problems –
God wants to bless his obedient children, but obedience goes lacking, and Plan-B
is set in motion.
Sounds pretty depressing for a
Tuesday morning, but there is a silver lining in this cloud of despair; two
silver linings, actually:
1.
Whenever Plan-B
is necessary, repentance is also an option. When we repent of sin, God is faithful to
forgive and restore Plan-A benefits; the chief of which is a new-slate of
relationship with the Father, and a chance to serve Him faithfully.
2.
There is also
the reality of witness. Each
time God’s people mess-up in the obedience department Plan-B is a witness of
God’s purpose and power. Others get brought
into the picture (like the Gentiles in Paul’s day), and God’s family is blessed
in ways that may seem odd at first, but we will eventually understand the perfect
will of God even in what looks weird to humanity.
For You Today
Scripture is abundantly clear that, ever
since the Garden of Eden, humans have a real problem with Plan-A. And, considering our track record, praise God
He always has a Plan-B!
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