Plan B

The LORD said to Samuel, "How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons." Samuel said, "How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me." And the LORD said, "Take a heifer with you, and say, 'I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.' Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you." Samuel did what the LORD commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, "Do you come peaceably?" He said, "Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the LORD; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice." And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice. When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, "Surely the Lord's anointed is now before the LORD." But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the LORD does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart." Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one." Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, "Neither has the LORD chosen this one." Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, "The LORD has not chosen any of these." Samuel said to Jesse, "Are all your sons here?" And he said, "There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep." And Samuel said to Jesse, "Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here." He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The LORD said, "Rise and anoint him; for this is the one." Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah. [1 Samuel 16:1-13]

God has a plan. God has a plan to rectify what went wrong. It's not that His plan went wrong and he had to now fix it. But his accomodation to the our human inclination allow rooms for things went wrong in His plan.

Saul's reign went wrong, your job derailed, I bombed my class. Was that all in God's plan? Both yes and no. He often accomodated our weaknesses in His plan A, but He has other plans: B, A prime, Beta, etc. in reserve.

God has a plan. God has a plan but He required a human to set it off. That human wil need to overcome grief and regret, fear and prejudice, in other to set God's plan in motion.

Samuel was the human agent. We are called to be the human agent. God wants His agents to overcome their own grief and regret (sometimes they take too much credits for their contributions in what went wrong). God wants His agents to overcome their own fear and prejudice (sometimes they don't give enough credits for God, who know what He is doing, and who can certaintly carry the plan out one way or another).

God has a plan. God has a plan but it often required a gradual growth from the human to fit into His plan. His plan won't bear fruit the next day; even the next ten years. God's plan often accomplished when people believe in His plan and continue to move forward, a bit at a time, closer and closer to reality.

David didn't become king the next day, or even ten years later for that matter. He grew into kingship, through sweat and blood. Most Christians grew into God's potential gradually too. Faith keep them inching toward what they don't see, a bit at a time, obedience over a long period of time.

O Lord my God, thank you for accomodate my weakness and continue to work with me. Please allow me to be a faithful servant, who gradually inch toward the goal you had set forth for my life.