God's Plans And...

             For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. (Jeremiah 29:11)

At the end of seven days the word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, I have made you a watchman for the people of Israel; so hear the word I speak and give them warning from me. When I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the wicked person and they do not turn from their wickedness or from their evil ways, they will die for their sin; but you will have saved yourself.

“Again, when a righteous person turns from their righteousness and does evil, and I put a stumbling block before them, they will die. Since you did not warn them, they will die for their sin. The righteous things that person did will not be remembered, and I will hold you accountable for their blood. But if you do warn the righteous person not to sin and they do not sin, they will surely live because they took warning, and you will have saved yourself.” (Ezekiel 3:16-21)

The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

(Jeremiah 17:9) 

One of my devotionals referred to the verse from Jeremiah as a reason to have joy. Not only are God’s plans for us plans for benefit, but He has the power to carry them out. He doesn’t need us. He doesn’t need our help. But here’s the problem. There are times when God’s plan requires that we be passive recipients, just letting Him work it out. There are other times when God’s plan involves our being active participants.

In fact, God told Ezekiel that if Ezekiel didn’t warn people about their sins, Ezekiel would be held accountable for their deaths. This is similar to the claim made by many that Germans who stood by and let the Nazis do what they did were as guilty as the Nazis. In fact, this idea is thrown in the face of anyone who doesn’t immediately join some group in their fight against something they see as evil.

So, what’s a person to do? Ultimately, the answer begins with prayer and includes prayer all along the way. God doesn’t always make it as clear as a sign descending on a fishhook from heaven or an audible voice to us, as He did with Ezekiel. We may be convinced that we’re acting in the name of God and of justice, but is it merely in the name of God and justice, or is our ego involved? In the Sermon on the Mount, we’re warned not to judge without considering this possibility. The fact that we think we meant well doesn’t mean harm isn’t done when we don’t pay attention. And even if we do pay attention, we are likely to make errors in judgment – not about whether someone is doing wrong, but about our response to it.

I’m dealing with this. It’s not crushing me, but I’m trying to sort these ideas out and do a better job with them next time. But another thought comes to mind. Some believe they are doing right in calling for the government to impose their justice on others – to force others to “clean up” the environment, to treat people the way they think people should be treated, to solve the problems of poverty, division, violence, crime, and drugs, etc. They are insulated from responsibility if things don’t go well by deputizing the government to do these things. They can blame the government or some part thereof.

This goes back to the passage from Ezekiel. In our particular situation, are we being given responsibility, like Ezekiel? Does this apply to everyone and every problem? Just to problems we recognize? Just to problems that immediately involve us? Or just those called to be prophets? Wisdom is needed. Prayer is needed. Self-examination is needed. The answer probably isn’t always the same. But joy requires that we at least make an attempt to find the answer.