Moving from Plan A to Plan A+
When God is in it, there is no such thing as “Plan B”. God has only Plan “A” and Plan “A+”
Israel was not supposed to be led by a king, with a standing army, who would form alliances with neighboring kings to set up the security of the nation.
No! God’s desire was a people who were to be led by the Presence, placed into a leader who would be raised up as one filled with the Spirit…
Moses was the first, his apprentice, Joshua was the second. You know the stories because you can’t ignore their footprint on the world.
A list of leaders (called “Judges”) continued in a long line, until a weak and doddering leader named Eli, taught a young boy named Samuel how to hear the voice of God… Then Samuel became the great leader, whose life was characterized by being filled with the Spirit of God Himself.
Under Samuel, God’s desire for Israel was fulfilled. Israel became a people led by the Presence…
When Samuel became old, his sons turned away from the standards lived out by their dad.
So, the leaders of the nation had a meeting.
They told Samuel to find them a king—a king, with a standing army, who would form alliances with neighboring kings to set up the security of the nation…
Despite the grief (shared by God and Samuel together) God told Samuel to get it done… And God led a farm boy named Saul, the son of Kish, to meet Samuel. A series of spectacular events confirmed that Saul was Israel’s first king.
He was a farm boy who didn’t want the job.
He hid behind the bags when his name was being chosen…
He wanted to go back the farm…
Then, God’s very Spirit landed on him, first to confirm to him that he was in fact the king, and then, decisively, in a time of horrific crisis: an invading king wanted to humiliate a conquered town by gouging out the right eye of every man in town.
Saul heard the people weeping.
He heard of a great evil being done to his own people...
And when he heard the Spirit of God "rushed/landed upon him."
He became enraged at the extreme cruelty of a wicked invader.
He was given a plan, and called the nation to rally to defend one of its cities...
Saul became the leader when Spirit of God landed on him to lead God’s people.
Israel now had a king—but not like any other king on earth.
This one became the king when the Spirit of God landed on him
to lead His people by God’s Presence.
He was a king with a difference. Israel would, once again, be led by a leader who was filled with the Spirit of God Himself. That is how it happened… Saul was supposed to be the Spirit-filled great king chosen by God to lead his people by Presence…
Saul had measured success in being a king leading a standing army, but failed in his walk with God…
And Saul failed,
not once,
not twice,
but three times,
His failure was that he acted on his own! He didn't allow the Spirit of God to lead him, and through him, God's people. He failed to seek God in times of trouble. And so, when he received a harsh rebuke after the third and final warning, the Presence of the Spirit was lifted from him—and placed on someone else.
It was a farm boy, who didn’t want the job…
God filled David, son of Jesse, with the Spirit, leading him to defend the nation in times of trouble. It started with a giant named Goliath… Like Saul before him, he discovered in time that he had become the king.
David became the king when the Spirit of God landed on him
to lead His people by God’s Presence…
David was no paper saint. The Bible records his egregious sins, hiding nothing… but the same Bible also records that whenever there was trouble, David returned to God, seeking out the Divine Presence to lead him, as he led God’s people. David was a better king than Saul because he was firm in his resolve to lead, yet tender to God’s Presence.
Through this tender-hearted man, named David, plan A became plan A+.
Maybe you’re in trouble. Someone else’s actions have ruined your life, your family’s life, your church, or smashed your honorable gift of love. In fact, maybe you managed to ruin things yourself! And you are broken. You wouldn’t mind a plan B or C, just to stop the hurting. In fact, you might just ask for a D+ to get out of this course with a barebones pass!
When you are tempted to opt for plan B or plan C, (or even plan D Minus), remember to call on the God of Plan A+. Ask God to send it, just like Samuel did when the nation chose poorly.
If you are “in Him” and seeking God in times of trouble, there is no plan B. There is plan A and plan A+…
© David Chotka, 2020
