When God's Purposes Run Contrary to Our Plans
“Who has purposed this…?”
This is the question I found myself confronted with as I sat at my kitchen table reading Isaiah 23 earlier this morning. Given certain things going on in my life right around now, questions such as this have begun to stick out at me in my daily Bible readings, and so when I encountered the words today in verse 8, the questioned jumped out at me as if in bold italics.
On Plans & Purposes
Who has purposed this? This is a question we must ever ask ourselves, no matter what circumstances we find ourselves in throughout life. This question can be a conviction or a comfort, a terror a relief, a horror or an honor…it all depends on what ‘this’ is and to whom ‘this’ is being done.
The Psalmist felt abandoned by God until the Lord swept in with swift salvation, and thus he cried out, “It shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation… that He has done it” (Ps 22:30-31). Here, the Lord’s purposes were a beauty to be proclaimed, good news to be shared.
When Joseph’s brethren came unto him in fear of the punishment they might receive for their sinful actions, thus was his response: “Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you mean evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today” (Gen 50:19-20). Here, the Lord’s good purposes outshone all the evil Joseph had unfairly endured many of the years of his life, and it was God’s good purposes that motivated him to thus say, “So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones” (v.21).
Indeed, WHO has purposed something is just as important as WHAT is being purposed. If a toddler is the big brain behind the building of a skyscraper, I do not want to step foot in that building, for it will not be effective. If a known con artist makes clear his intention to sell me a luxury car, I want to business with the man, for the outcome is not certain. The chief actor behind any purpose decides its effectiveness and its certainty, and the only things that limit his ability to do so is his lack in power or motivation. The toddler might one day be a good architect, but he does not, as of yet, have the power to do so. The con artist may have a luxury car to sell, but he does not have the natural motivation to do so fairly. The chief actor’s power and motivation, then, say much to the effectiveness and certainty of any given purpose.
Case Study: Tyre
Let us ask our question once more: “Who has purposed this…?” In the instance of Isaiah 23, the ‘this’ of which the question speaks is destruction, and the whom towards which the destruction is aimed is Tyre: “Who has purposed this against Tyre, the bestower of crowns, whose merchants were princes, whose traders were honored of the earth?” (Isa 23:8).
Yet who is it that would attempt to destroy this mighty people? Who has purposed their destruction? The answer to this question will affect the destruction’s effectiveness and certainty. If the chief actor is limited in power and motivation, Tyre need not tremble. If the actor lacks power, then they can defend themselves; if the actor lacks motivation, who is to say that the attack will ever truly ever come? As with all purposes, the people of Tyre must look at the threat of their impending destruction and ask, Who has purposed this?
Hear the word of the Lord: “The Lord of hosts has purposed it, to defile the pompous pride of all glory, to dishonor all the honored of the earth” (v.9).
Ah, so Tyre has reason to tremble. It is not a toddler who comes against them, but the Lord of angel armies. When it comes to power, He is sovereign; when it comes to motivation, He is good. If Tyre, then, is evil, then God has ample motivation to destroy them, and if their power is lesser than His—and indeed, no one’s is greater, not can any match Him—then He has the power to do so. And this, indeed, is the case, thus their destruction will be effective (that is, it will be a true destruction, precisely according to how He has described it) and it is certain (that is, He has proclaimed it, and He has ample motivation to see His assertion through to the end). Thus, we can see why Isaiah declared from the beginning, “Wail, O ships of Tarshish, for Tyre is laid waste, without house or harbor!” (v.1). The Lord has purposed it; it shall certainly come to pass.
…So What?
O my soul, in your present state of grief, remember this passage, and ask its question each morn: “Who has purposed this…?” Did not the same God who destroyed Tyre also allow your father to be taken from you? When you entered those woods, did He not know only one of you would exit? Did He not see your weeping before you even unloaded your bike? Did He not see these words you would type on your laptop this day even before you wrote typed words on your phone fifteen days ago, asking your father to go for a bike ride? God does not purpose evil, but He permits, and He permits it in order that He might purpose it for some ultimate good. Again I say, “We know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Rom 8:28).
Indeed, as with the Psalmist, as with Joseph, and as with Tyre, you must remember, O my soul, that it is the Lord who has purposed this. The question, then, is how you shall respond to His purpose, and that hinges largely on how you view His choice.
Consider once more the extent of His power and the motive of His actions: He is sovereignly all-powerful, and He is entirely good. Could He, by His power, have kept my father alive? Yes, absolutely. Did He? No; my present grief testifies that my father is dead. My grief, then, is both effective and certain—there is no denying that my life is different now than it was fifteen days ago at this time—and there is only one thing left to give me hope—God’s motivation. This is where the who makes the biggest difference.
Is the God who took my father away from me a tyrannical overlord who cares nothing for His creation but rather delights in their pain? God forbid! No; He is the perfect, holy, pure, omnibenevolent, gracious Creator of all things who extends His love to those who do not deserve it. If He has, by His power, effectively and certainly purposed this plan by which I must endure this pain, then it is in His good motivations that I must rely. In fact, how I framed my very question is erroneous: I have said that God “took my father away from me,” but was my father not God’s to begin with? Was it not God’s gracious love that first provided me with my father from the beginning? Then perhaps it is not that God has taken anything from me at all; perhaps that is simply my selfish way of looking at things. Perhaps—in some perplexing, frustrating, convoluted way that I cannot understand—there is a gracious gift to be found even in this.
God’s purposes have certainly come to head with my plans…how shall I respond? How shall we respond? He had the power to do things the way I would have preferred, but He chose to do things a different way, and now I have memories that scar my mind and sad recollections that shout at me nearly everywhere I go, everywhere I look. God had the power to do things how I would have preferred, but rather He has purposed something entirely contrary to what I desired. How shall we respond?
The Problem of Pain
Oftentimes, when people face tragedy in life, they begin to question either the power of God (His omnipotence) or the goodness of God (His benevolence). How can an all-powerful, all-good God, they ask, allow bad things to happen? The classic problem of evil, as first posited by Epicurus and restated by David Hume, is as follows: “Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then from whence comes evil?”
As for me, I have never fully understood this problem very much. I have done extensive research on the topic, read many books in regard to the subject, worked through it time and time again, and attended countless lectures and debates surrounding it, but to me the “problem” of evil has never been a very big problem at all. I have always thought that this was, perhaps, because I had never faced any great tragedy or evil in my life; perhaps I was merely a virgin to evil who had no reason to doubt the power or the goodness of God. But even now, in the midst of this tragedy—my best friend unexpectedly and horrifically died before my eyes, all for seemingly no good reason—the Problem of Evil still seems, to me, like an easy cop-out by which people justify their failure to submit to God.
No; for me, in this time of tragedy I do not question God’s goodness or strength. Rather, it is on these things that I must rely. In this time when I know that God has the power to save my dad yet chose not to, the only thing that reassures me is the reminder that God is good. He has been faithful in the past, so what reason have I for thinking He will not likewise be faithful even now?
Indeed, it is in the power and goodness of God—in His power and His motives—that I rest. When God’s purposes run contrary to my plans, I must simply remember that He is God, not me, and He knows more than I do. He is the all-knowing, ever-present, all-powerful, totally-good God of the universe; I am a foolish, finite, weak, sinful boy. Who am I to think that I know what is good better than God? See, the problem of evil is not problem at all so long as we remember who we are and who God is.
Conclusion
The end of the matter: If God had the power to keep my dad alive, yet chose to let him sleep, then I will trust His motivations were pure, and in His good intentions I will delight. His purposes are effective and certain (for He has the power to make them effective and the motives to make them certain), but rather than questioning that power and motivation, I will trust in them, rest in them, rejoice in them…for they have never failed, they do not fail, nor shall they ever fail.
If I am being honest with you, I can happily say that I have begun to see the good fruit of God’s graces flowing out of this tragedy. In the past, I have already addressed this—I have redirected my focus, shifted my priorities, grown in gratitude, and renewed my worship—but in addition to this, I have had the increased opportunity to minister to people by reminding them of the hope we have in Christ. I am preaching the same message I have always preached, but my present circumstances have caused more people to listen. I may not understand why things had to happen in this way in order for these things to occur, but so long as God receives the glory, I will remain satisfied in His decisions, and I will always search for that silver lining.
Indeed, so long as God as in charge, I am content.
When God’s purposes run contrary to our plans, here is my greatest advice: Trust him. Trust in His power, trust in His goodness. Trust in His grace.
