ACE #261: Plan B

The other day, I was in a rush to get to work.  When I plugged up my curling iron, the power light would not come on.  I tried to reset the power outlet, and still no action.  I hurried into the other room to plug it into another outlet to see if I could diagnose the problem.  Still...nothing.  I realized that my curling iron was broken...done...finished.  I started to panic, then realized that I had another curling iron underneath the sink.  While I didn't necessarily like this curling iron as my first choice, I always thought that I would use it as a back-up if I ever needed it. I was always hesitant to use it because it didn't curl my hair in the manner I really liked.  In this case though, it was right on time!  However, there have been many times when I would have never had to use Plan B if I had just listened to the voice of God.

It made me think about how Moses had planned to kill the Egyptian and to hide him in the sand, thinking no one had seen, or would ever know, his actions. All along, God had another plan for Moses and his people.  Moses had decided to take matters into his own hands, which caused him to sin.  He had not truly consulted God in his plan. 

As Christians, when we go with Plan A, our own plan, out of disobedience and foolish pride we often find ourselves in a world of hurt...trying to undo what we should not have done in the first place.  Then we resort to Plan B...the Back-up Plan.  Plan B is what we use when the first plan just doesn't work out.  There's nothing wrong with using a back-up plan except that had we been obedient and followed God's direction from the beginning...we wouldn't even need it.

The best part - God gives us brand new mercies every day...even when Plan A, our own plan, falters.  Just like with Moses, God adjusts the plan on our behalf.  I guess Plan B wasn't so bad for Moses after all.  He got a wife, a few kids, some pretty awesome in-laws, and he led a few people out of bondage...but none of it would have been possible without God's help. 

Stick to God's plan.

Exodus 2:11-15

Moses Flees to Midian

¹¹ One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. ¹² Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. ¹³ The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?”
¹⁴ The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known.”

¹⁵ When Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian, where he sat down by a well.