THE INSRUTABLE PLAN

WHAT DOES THE INSCRUTABLE PLAN MEANS?

The inscrutable plan means God’s care over creation and His control of History; this was God’s divine plan for His chosen people Israel, see (Rom. 11:1-36). God wanted the nation of Israel to make a name for themselves. He wanted it to be a name of praise and glory before all the nations of the earth because of the good He would do to them. He wanted them to be prosperous and at peace with their neighbors, who would honor, praise and glorify God for all the blessings He would bestow upon His people, “For as the sash  clings to the waist of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me.’ Says the Lord, ‘that they may become My people, for renown, for praise and for glory; but they would not hear” (Jer. 13:11). And because of their disobedience, their Lord did not accomplish His purpose in Israel. Therefore they lost the many blessing He would have showered upon them and all the praise they would have received from other nations. But Israel’s lost opportunity became the salvation of the Gentiles. In Christ, the church was born, a new nation of people called to bring praise to God. In God unfathomable way, Israel’s failure resulted in salvation for all peoples. Prophet Isaiah asked, “Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable” (Isa. 40:28).

GOD’S PROVIDENCE

After God created the world, He continued to extend His loving care over His all creation, providing food for humans and animals and preserving them, “So it was that quails come up at evening and covered the camp, and in the morning, the dew lay all around the camp. And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small substance, as fine as a frost on the ground. So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, this is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. This is the thing which the Lord has commanded; ‘Let every man gather it according to each one’s need, one omer for each person, according to the number of persons;  let every man take for those who are in his tent” (Exod. 16:13-16).   God actively rules our world. He controls everything that happens, evil included, let’s see Hannah’s prayer when God granted her heart’s desire by blessing her with bouncing baby Samuel, “The Lord kills and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and brings up. The Lord makes poor and makes rich; He brings low and lifts up. He raises the poor from the dust and lifts the beggar from the ash heap, to set them among princes and make them inherit the throne of glory. “For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and He has set the world upon them. He will guard the feet of His saints, but the wicked shall be silence in darkness. ‘For by strength, no man shall prevail. The adversaries of the Lord shall be broken in pieces; from heaven He will thunder against them. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth. ‘He will give strength to His king, and exalt the horn of His anointed” (1 Sam. 2:6-10). There is much here that defies human understanding. Biblically we can affirm that sin and evil are not independent of God’s providence. God does turn the evil that comes into our live so that good may be brought out of it. “But as for you, you meant  evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive” (Gen. 50:20).   However, God does not cause sin. We do not know that God loves every one of His children and that He has His reasons for permitting evil. The conclusion of the matter is this beloved; the suffering and pain that comes to us we are not alone. We are in the hands of our Almighty, loving God, “But I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no not even by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in its midst; and after that he will let you go” (Exod. 3:19-20).

GOD ACCOMPLISHES HIS PLANS

“The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it” (Luke 16:16). More than any other Gospel writer, Luke stressed God’s masterful plan of salvation taking place in the arena of world history; the plan began with Adam and will end with the return of Jesus.  Jesus Christ fulfilled all the prophecies of the Old Testament and ushered in the decisive stage in God’s great plan through  his preaching of the kingdom of God, His death and His victorious resurrection. Jesus has now ascended into heaven, but the good news of the kingdom is still being proclaimed. The return of Jesus as judge constitutes the final element in God’s plan, at which time history will end. God is working out His marvelous plan in history; to know that truth brings comfort for every day of our lives. The psalmist affirms God’s plan in his epistle thus; “The counsel of the Lord stands forever. The plans of His heart to all generations. And blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, and the people He has chosen as His own inheritance” (Ps. 33:11-12). After sin separated human being from God and individuals from each other, God set up a plan to defeat the powers of darkness and to bring reconciliation. How He planned to do this was His secret for centuries, but now is revealed through Christ. The power to reunite all things is the power of Christ resurrection, the power of new life at work within individual Christians and in the church. No Bible book expresses God’s cosmic plan of salvation and His plan for our daily lives more clearly for this one. Paul the Apostle in his letter to the Ephesians, he states, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth- in Him. In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will, that we who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory” (Eph. 1:7-12).Paul delights in the work of the Cross, and never hesitates to make his teaching about Christ’s atoning death absolutely clear. The shed blood of the Savior, dying as mankind’s representative, has redeemed the world from sin. That blood has provided full satisfaction in the sight of God for human iniquity, and when its effectiveness, is claimed by the individual in repentance and faith, it cleanses that person from sin. This great serving act resulted from the same divine grace that inspired the covenant with Israel at Sinai. God’s grace is properly described as “rich” because it is unfathomable and inexhaustible as the love, compassion, and goodness of the Creator Himself. It becomes the believer’s treasured possession because of Christ’s atoning death.

GOD’S SPECIAL CARE AND LOVE FOR HIS OWN PEOPLE

In the book of Exodus it states that God , “ Keeping mercy for thousands,  forgiving iniquities and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the quilt, visiting the iniquities of the fathers upon the children and the children’s children to the third and the fourth generation” (Exod. 34:7). This text is found at the center of one of the greatest revelations of the character of God in the Scriptures. The mercy, grace and forgiveness of God appear as the chief traits of that character. This insight of God’s character follows Moses’ request for wholesale forgiveness of Israel’s sin. When this request was not granted, Moses asked for a revelation of the basis upon which God would forgive the sins of Israel. That insight is given here. God is a God of unlimited grace, mercy and forgiveness. But man is not automatically forgiven. Forgiveness of God is found by those who seek it. The second covenant with Israel, “And He said; “Behold I make a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvelous such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord. For it is an awesome thing that I will do with you” (Exod. 34:10) included relief from the judgment of the peoples sins to allow them to be taught their need and seek forgiveness. Those who sought forgiveness found it. And prophet Isaiah has this to say, “Like birds flying about, so will the Lord of host defend Jerusalem. Defending, He will also deliver it; passing over, He will preserve it” (Isa. 31:5). Apostle Paul has this to say to the Romans, he adds, “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom. 8:37-39). And Peter said, “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous” (1 Pet. 3:12). This means that God’s care and love will always dwell with the righteous, and He will by no means withheld His good plans towards us; His good plan that He had to perform to the rebellious children of Israel. As prophet Jeremiah states, “For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope” (Jer. 29:11).

My beloved brethren, may the Lord grant you according to your heart desire, and fulfill all your purpose and perfect that which concerns you this day. In whatever challenges that you might be facing today or this season, know that God is still God and sited on the throne. He will never leave us nor forsake us.

“Grace to you and Favor from our God and Father and the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen and Amen and Amen.”