Sunday, January 24, 2016

Handling Plan B

Handling Plan B
Genesis 12:1-4
            On my desk at church is one of those goose-necked lamps.  It’s about two feet long side to side and is made of some metal that attracts magnets.  This is great, because I can attach my favorite refrigerator magnets to the lamp and see them whenever I’m working at my desk.  One that I really like says, “Life is all about how you handle Plan B.”
            How true, how true! Before I die I would like to meet someone whose life had gone according to the way he/she planned it.  Over my many years of teaching, countless students have told me exactly what they had planned for their lives.  Not one has ever come back and said the plan worked out perfectly.  I remember one young man who told me in eighth grade that he was going to attend medical school, then law school.  He wound up in military intelligence.  Go figure!
            Abram was a successful businessman living in Haran.  He was married to a beautiful woman (Sarai), and although they had no children, he lived close to his father and his nephew, so there was a loving, extended family.  Everything was great!  Then God came calling. 
             “Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.’”  There’s more, of course.  God promised to make him the father of a great nation, and to bless him so he could become a blessing to others.  But the significant part is that God told him to go, and to go on faith.
            What would you do in that situation?  Would you go?  Would you sell your house, give up your job, leave your friends and family, pull up stakes and move out on faith, not knowing where you’d end up?  If you decided to do it, would you go willingly, or would you grumble, complain, worry, sulk—or just sigh a lot?
            The writer of Genesis tells us, “So Abram went, as the Lord had told him…”—and this was no easy matter.  When he moved so did everything he owned.  There was no question of liquidating property.  Instead, he moved his entire household—wife, servants, flocks, herds, tents, and all.  His only GPS was God’s directions.  Talk about scary!
            We can cite other examples of people God called to follow Plan B.  Peter, Andrew, James and John were planning on living out their lives in the family business.  They would fish as long as they were physically able, then turn things over to their sons as their fathers had done with them.  Then God came calling.
            Saul had his future planned.  He was on track to become an eminent Jewish scholar, perhaps a member of the Sanhedrin.  After all, he was studying with Gamaliel, one of the leading teachers of the day.  He was the Pharisees’ fair haired boy.  Such enthusiasm!  Such passion!  And what a persecutor!  What could stop him now?  Then God came calling.
            Mary was looking forward to a blessed, peaceful life as Joseph’s wife.  She’d keep his house, have his children, share with him the joy of their Jewish religion, make the Sabbath celebration beautiful and proper.  What could go wrong?  Then God came calling.
            What will you do when God comes calling?  How will you handle Plan B—or Plan C, or D?  God may call you to several changes in your lifetime, and you will have to answer each time.  Are you ready for the next plan—for God’s next call?  How will you respond?
            “So Abram went as the Lord had told him.”  I can tell you from personal experience that these changes are not always easy.  Sometimes they take you to places you’d rather not go, to jobs you’d rather avoid, to situations that are huge challenges.

            But staying behind is never an option when God comes calling.

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