Some of us have missed God’s “Plan A” for our lives.
We must not, however, allow that to cause us to miss God’s “Plan B!” Consider these thoughts gleaned from the life of Moses...
God’s “Plan A” for Moses was obviously for him to finish well. Finishing well in “Plan A” meant being obedient to God—and being the one to lead God’s people into the Promised Land. Because of Moses’s failure in the whole striking-the-rock-twice incident (Num. 20:7–13), however, God made clear to him that “Plan A” was an impossibility. It just wasn’t going to happen.
But, in His grace, God also had a “Plan B” for Moses! And “Plan B” was, first and foremost, for Moses to forget “those things which [were] behind, and ... press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God” (Phil. 3:13–14). In other words, not to sit around feeling sorry for himself, pouting about the failures of his past, but to begin from where he was and seek to obey God in the course God had for him in “Plan B!”
Perhaps, because of some kind of failure in your past, you too have missed God’s “Plan A” for your life. So what do you do now? Well, you can do what a lot of people do: wallow around in self-pity for the rest of your life, rehearsing it all over and over in your mind, wishing you had done something different or made better decisions! But all of that rehearsing won’t do a single thing to change what now is! It will only bind you to the past, causing you to miss the incredible opportunities God has for you in the present and to ensure that you will never tap into the glorious things God has designed for you in the future! Learn from the example of Moses—God most definitely has a “Plan B” for your life, and there is most definitely a way for you to finish well in God’s “Plan B!”
“Though the closing chapters in the book of Deuteronomy record Moses’s physical death, they also record an even more significant death: his death to self! ”
In Deuteronomy 31, Moses sees the big picture. He knows that for him to finish well, the children of Israel didn’t need to get all sentimental and preoccupied with his death. They were on the brink of entering into the life God had intended for them when He brought them out of Egypt (Deut. 6:23)! This was a time for forward thinking, jubilation, expectation and faith! Moses could have very easily played on the people’s sympathies, made the whole ordeal of his death the people’s focus, and failed in his responsibility to orchestrate the beautiful transfer of leadership to Joshua by making it all about him.
But Moses is too much of a man of God and a man of character for that! Moses realizes that, for him to finish well in his “Plan B,” how he prepares the people for entering the land and how he coordinates the transition to Joshua is vital. It is apparent by Moses’s attitude and demeanor that he is going to finish well. Moses’s attitude toward Joshua at this moment is much like John the Baptist’s attitude toward Jesus in John 3:30: “He must increase, but I must decrease.” God had already made the people aware that Joshua would succeed Moses, but Moses wanted to handle this transfer with such grace and dignity that it would please the Lord and, at the same time, generate excitement and expectation in the hearts of God’s people about their future with God in the land, under the leadership of Joshua.
Though the closing chapters in the book of Deuteronomy record Moses’s physical death, they also record an even more significant death: his death to self! Oh, that more leaders would learn from Moses’s example and use their platform of leadership to advance the work of God and magnify the glory of God. By God’s grace, may we, like Moses, get the focus off of ourselves and completely on the Lord Himself and become passionate about Him receiving from our lives the glory that is due His name (Ps. 29:2; 96:8). And whether we’re living God’s “Plan A” or “Plan B,” may we make certain that, in every remaining moment and detail of our lives, our passion is for the work or God and the glory of God!