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God's divine plan...blah blah blah

      I read this quote on Facebook today: "You are where God wants you to be at this very moment. Every experience is part of his divine plan."
      Yeah...I really don't know how I feel about this. From first glance, I could probably concede to the quote. I could paraphrase it into layman's terms and say that "everything happens for a reason." But that could be a cop out or almost deus ex machina. I can't say that I don't believe that, but sometimes I wonder why. Do I believe this because I was taught to or because it is truth? 
       When I read again the quote from above, I thought, "Am I really where God wants me to be at this very moment in time? Am I doing according to his divine plan everything that I am supposed to?" I don't know. I can't answer that. So this quote I can't stand behind. Now, had it read: "You are where you are at this very moment, and God knew it before you even existed." That I can crouch behind. I have no problem believing in that statement. I mean it is scripture for goodness sake. However, going so far as to say that I am exactly where God wants me? Um...even I know that isn't true.
       So, if I am not exactly where God wants me then where am I? I would often have the conversation with my brother about God's will, and he explained it to me as such: "God has a perfect will and a permissible will." He did tell me that the chances of being in God's perfect will were slim to nil. Not gonna happen. But being in his permissible will was something we can achieve and strive to achieve. Well, I guess if I remember correctly, he did tell me that we should strive for the perfect even though we won't achieve. It is like Les Brown's quote, "Shoot for the moon, because even if you miss, you'll land among the stars."
        The goal is perfect the achievement is permissive. I can stand behind that. I can honestly say that I have no problem aiming for something I will never achieve knowing that I will never achieve it. But I refuse to believe that I am exactly where God wants me because that puts my humanity above His divinity. It does so in the fact that every decision I have made has got me to the point in my life where I am, and I haven't always followed the path I knew was best. 
         It is like I can't believe in the idea that God takes my dirtiness of sin and destruction and just wipes them away without consequence. No, that is crap. God, the Father, takes the sin and shame and destruction and evilness that I find harboring in my nature and destroys them...but the consequences of those things are mine to bear. I won't bear them alone, but they are there. They have to be. It is the same thing we see as the necessary reason for purgatory. If we die, with sin in our lives, we have to be purged of the remnants of that sin. There is no way we can enter in the divine holy presence of God without knowing and understanding the hurt and pain we have caused against his divinity. But do we do it alone? Hell no! (No pun intended) We do it with His Son by our side. 
         I am so far from perfect. I am a sinful, disgusting, spineless human being who cares deeply for none other than myself, and in that I am perfect. My humanity makes me a free will. It gives me the ability to chose to love and follow the One who can take my humanity and turn it into one of the two components of the perfect love affair: Christ and His Church. I am not where God wants me...but I can certainly keep trying to get there, and try I must.

Comments

  1. AnonymousAugust 26, 2014 at 4:10 AM

    I lost someone very close to me a few years ago, and after she was gone I heard the phrase "Everything happens for a reason" as though for the first time. My heart rebelled at the idea that this beautiful woman who had been my best friend suffered sickness and death for a reason. "A reason" implies that the loss of her was worth it somehow, as though there being a reason for it should assuage the agony of it. It also implies that God, in His divine distance, orchestrates death and destruction in individual lives to fulfill His purpose, but that doesn't sound like the God I know, the one who sent His son because He loves the world, the One in whom there is no sin or death. Nor is the sentiment biblical. I suppose someone might try to argue the scripture "For God works all things together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose," but the two aren’t the same thing. God did use my grief to heal the deep hurts in my heart (worked it together for my good), but that isn’t the reason my friend died. There was no reason. It simply happened, after which I had to decide if I would allow God to do something with it.

    So what, then? I’m not saying that nothing happens for a reason. Sometimes there is a reason for the hard things I walk through, but it just might be that I’m selfish. Or lazy. Or just plain stupid. I saw this awesome quote on a meme yesterday: The first step to recovery is admitting that you’re a dumbass. The reason I’m walking through something hard might very well be part of God’s perfect plan for my life, but it might also the consequences of my own dumbassery. Now, I can stumble along blindly, constantly banging into the walls of my own stupidity, all the while gullibly assuming that my dumbassery is a part of God’s plan. I can do that, or I can allow God to use those consequences to shape my heart. To heal me. To grow me in Christlikeness.

    So finally, the quote that inspired it all: “You are where God wants you to be at this very moment. Every experience is part of his divine plan.”

    So many arguments come to mind when I hear such platitudes. What is the biblical foundation for this idea? What does it say about the character of God? And what about our responsibility to grow in emotional and spiritual maturity? If I think that the pit I’m wallowing is the perfect plan of God – “It’s where I am so I’m obviously supposed to be here!” – what’s my motivation to get out of it? Why would I bother climbing the mountain if I believe I’m at the bottom of it because that’s where God wants me?

    The metaphors go on and on. Basically, I agree with what you said: the whole thing is crap.

    P.S. I think you’re pretty awesome. Thanks for sharing your thought with us.

    ReplyDelete

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