In the Plan of God

When I was a kid, my fifth grade teacher had a chessboard in her classroom. A friend and I decided we would learn to play, so we checked out a book (no Google back in the day). The book was mostly over our heads, but we figured out how the different pieces move around the board, and the basics of the game.

Fast forward twenty-five years, my son joined the middle school chess club. the club leader taught them the basics I had learned, and then taught them how to think strategically. He showed them moves that could almost ensure success. So when my son asked me to play, I figured I would have to take it easy on me. I mean, I'd been playing for twenty-five years.

He beat me in three moves.

What was the difference? He had a plan, and I just knew how the parts move. His very first move set up a course that was designed to grant him victory, even though both of us had to make a few (very few) moves before we reached checkmate.

In Ephesians 3, Paul gives us a glimpse of a similar story, a game of sorts, which has been being played for ages. The rulers and authorities in the spiritual realm were given some authority over earth, and they understood how the parts moved. Then in arrogance, they decided they could challenge God, their creator.

The difference, God had a plan, a strategy, that has been in play since before the foundation of the world. There was one move that ensured victory in this spiritual chess match - Jesus. The rulers just couldn't see that move.

 Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. 7 But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. 8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 1 Corinthians 2:6-8

The rulers during Jesus time on Earth didn't understand there was a strategy, a plan. Some might say this is talking about the Romans and Jews, not spiritual rulers, but I would remind them that Satan entered into Judas Iscariot to make sure Jesus' death happened (John 13:27). Satan didn't get it.

Jesus death and resurrection were the moves that ultimately won the game, reversed all that had transpired since Satan made his first move back in the Garden of Eden. But, God's plan wasn't just to win, but to show these rebellious rulers just how great his plan was, just how great He is, and so the game plays out. You have been placed into this plan of God, and through us - the church - the manifold wisdom of God might now be made know to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places (spiritual realm).

Because the American church tends to have such a focus on a personal relationship with God, we focus on God's plan for ME. This self-focus can often take our eyes off of something so much greater than God's plan for your life.

When you are placed in Christ, you can see that all of us are in the plan of God. Not "in God's plan for your life," but in God's plan for ALL life for ALL eternity. That's a sizable piece of spiritual geography.

God is sovereign. He is in control - total control. He has a plan, a plan that has been unfolding from eternity past. And, you are a part of it!

That should give us supreme confidence. There is not anything that has, is, or will happen in your life, that surprises God. When things seem totally out of control, He is still reigning supreme.

Are you living your life in such a way that the rulers and authorities in the spiritual realm are seeing the manifold wisdom of God. Unless you are living in God's eternal plan, you will never know his plan for your life.