A NEWSLETTER FOR THE MEMBERS OF THE GREENWOOD CHURCH OF CHRIST

VOLUME 5 NO. 2                                            March 9, 2008

The Creator Has A Plan

By Steve Niemeier

Paul makes it clear in Ephesians 1:3-7 that God has a plan.  He has a plan for those who come to Him through His Son and that plan is salvation.  He has a plan for those who reject His Son and that plan is condemnation.  God is the Creator (Geneses 1:1) and He has the right to make plans and see them through.  Jeremiah stated that man cannot even direct his own steps (Jer.10:23).  Isaiah 55:8-9 states that man’s thoughts and ways are lower than God’s thoughts and ways.  Yes, God is our Creator and He has a plan for us.

Who is better to develop and implement the plan for life than the One who created life?  We want to discuss our obstacles, hardships and disappointments of this life with any who will listen.  It is hard to imagine that others have these same obstacles, hardships and disappointments in their lives also.  Sometimes we are blinded by our own issues and forget about others and their issues of life.

We might even think that our Creator did not have obstacles, hardships and disappointments.  I believe we need to think again on that issue.  It would be hard for us to imagine the obstacles that our Heavenly Father has overcome to fulfill His plan for us.  Think of the obstacle of temptation that Satan introduced to the Creator’s first woman and man on this earth.  Temptation that created a desire that conceived and brought forth sin (James 1:14-15) generated an obstacle that only our Creator’s Son could be the answer to.  Many of us would have given up because of the cost of overcoming that obstacle wouldn't we?

The disappointment of His creation that He gave His breath of life to only grew because of their disobedience.  Genesis 6 certainly records His disappointment as He destroyed all on the face of this earth except eight souls.  What about His chosen people that He led from Egyptian bondage and safety? They constantly turned away from Him, challenged Him because of the self-pity, turned to idols and the list can go on and on.  Again, many of us would have given up on His plan for lesser reasons of disappointment wouldn't we?

Our Creator has had to deal with hardship after hardship since creating us.  Obstacles to overcome, disappointments to deal with and hardships beyond compare.  Was it easy to watch Stephen being stoned to death while defending Him?  His Son hanging on that cross while necessary to fulfill His plan could not have been a hardship that any of us would have wanted to face.  How about the horrible deaths of many of the apostles chosen by His Son to carry on the plan?  Here on earth many of us quit serving Him because we think He doesn’t understand our hardships and that He has turned a deaf ear to our prayers.  Oh, if we would only remember that He was willing to give His Son so we could benefit from His eternal plan for us (John 3:16-17, Galatians 3:26-27).

Our Creator knows what our needs are, He knows what our obstacles are, He knows what our hardships are and He knows what our disappointments are.  That is why He has a plan for us.  His plan is so perfect that our obstacles, hardships and disappointments of this life can be overcome with the hope and joy of eternal life IF we come to Him through His Son.

His plan affects every phrase of our lives.  His plan is far above any plan we can come up with for our lives.  He has considered all aspects of life for He created life.  He also has the experience of seeing obstacles, hardships and disappointments in ways we could never imagine.  All because He loves us and desires us to follow Him.

James 4:7-10 contains words that we should write on our heart and live by.  Humbling ourselves to God through His Son will allow His plan to work in us and we will be able to receive the full benefits from it.  Abraham believed in God and was called the friend of God and it was accounted unto him for righteousness (James 2:23).  Following His plan will allow us to be called a friend to Him and be saved also.