God Does Not Need Game Plan B

Have you ever been doing something and it didn’t go as planned? You have a strategy for achieving an objective. But somewhere along the line, things began to go sideways and you needed to come up with an alternative strategy, a Game Plan B.

You have a plan to increase sales at work, a well thought out strategic plan, but then a pandemic hits, and suddenly you are faced with declining sales, so you quickly need to devise a Game Plan B. In any sporting event, both teams have a game plan that focuses on their strengths while exploiting the other team’s weaknesses, but when a star player goes down with injuries, adjustments to that plan will need to be made, a Game Plan B. Or maybe you have a plan to get out of debt this year, but when you face an unexpected major home repair that costs thousands of dollars, forcing you to dip into what little savings you have, you need to regroup and come up with a new plan, a Game Plan B.

In the first few pages of the Bible, on the surface, it looks like God’s well laid out of creating mankind in His image (Genesis 1:26) goes awry when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden. The truth is God did not have an “Oh crap” moment and suddenly be forced to come up with a Game Plan B.  

You might be asking, who is “us” in Genesis 1:26. The Hebrew word for God used here is Elohim, the plural of El, which is the singular noun for God. Thus, here God is talking to the members of the Trinity. So, you see, not only was God (singular) present from before the creation of the earth, also were Jesus and the Spirit present as well. There are some who believe God was talking to the angels in this verse. I personally do not believe that to be true. I see no other indication anywhere in scripture that the angels were involved in creation.

I believe that God was not surprised at all, for the Fall served His original and only plan: to offer His Son as a perfect sacrifice to redeem and restore that which was lost in the Garden. The opening verses of Ephesians seem to make this evident. He predestined us for adoption to himself through Jesus Christ according to the purpose of his will (1:5), and we find this a few verse later – “making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth” (vv.9-10).

In 1 Peter, we find a similar confirmation that God’s plan, despite an apparent need for a Game Plan B, was not thwarted in the Garden. Here is what we read – “He (Jesus) was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you who through him are believers in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God” (vv.1:20-21).

So, as you see your plans spin out of control and you are constantly coming up with Game Plan B (and maybe C, D, and E), you can have confidence that God is still working out His plan of redemption and restoration, a plan that has not changed from before the foundation of time! He is continuing His original plan of inviting you and I, and our messes, to His banquet table, to feast and enjoy His presence for ever and ever. I will end with this – “You led me to your banquet room and showered me with love” (Song of Solomon 2:4, CEV).  

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