Hi, I’m quite new to Bayside. As I find the topic of ‘Does God have a specific plan’ very interesting, I decided to post.
Although God’s plan can be specific e.g. God’s call of Paul to be an apostle (Romans 1:1-1; Corinthians 1:1), this seems to be the exception, not the rule because.
This is because specific calls in the Bible have three elements in common, these being:
a) God communicated supernaturally
b) Decisive moment in history
c) The person being called didn’t seek the calling
This idea of specific callings (or plans) being the exception, not the rule, is consistent with distinguishing between ‘matters of command’ and ‘matters of freedom’ (Romans 14:14-20) and also with guiding the humble in what is right (Psalm 25: 9).
Interestingly, I have been to many churches where people often feel concerned about falling off God’s specific path for them or missing the bulls eye.
E.g. I once heard a minister say that if he hadn’t listened to God’s call to move interstate and start a new church, that he’d have missed out altogether. Here the minister implied that God would have passed him over and chosen somebody else and that he was glad that he didn’t commit the sin of not listening or following.
More likely, God would have called him again e.g. using another means or technique as suggested by God allowing degrees of freedom.
For me, when I first learned that God allows a degree of freedom (if within his written word), I felt a huge burden lift. Now I could get to know God as a person gets to know somebody in a relationship.
Simon G
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