I carry my travel mug everywhere and all the time. There is a story behind this. It was October 5th if I remember correctly. I was about to go to Walmart to grab some household items. All of sudden, Lydia insisted that she must go with me. She was determined. So, Lydia and I went to Walmart together. As we entered the building, I asked, “Lydia, now can you tell me why you have to come?” She said, "Because I want to buy you a gift." "Why?" I asked. "Because it's pastor appreciation month! I wanted to buy a gift for my best pastor in the world." I loved Lydia’s lovely thoughts and plans. Then later, I said to myself, “Lydia, I also have plans for you though I can’t tell you, or show you right now. I have been saving money in the bank just for you ever since the day you were born. When the time comes, it will be yours. It will probably be worth a thousand times more than the mug you bought for me today.” Our heavenly Father also says to us, “I know the plans I have for you – plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (Jer 29:11). God has a plan for you.
David’s Plan
So, what is God’s plan exactly? Psalm 132 answers this question. This psalm consists of two parts: the first part is David’s prayer, “David’s plan” (vv. 1-10), and the second is God’s response to the prayer, that is, “God’s plan” (vv. 11-18). Psalm 132 shows a clear contrast between our plan and God’s plan. In a word, our plan is to invite God to my kingdom and assign him to be my advisor, so that I may become a better person, live a good life, and at the end get to heaven safely. It’s not a bad plan. But God has a much better, much glorious plan for us. God’s plan is to rescue us from our kingdom and take us to his kingdom, so that we may get to know him, love him, treasure him, and live a life with him now and forever.
David’s plan was to bring the ark of God to Jerusalem and to build a place for God’s dwelling. David said, “I will not enter my house or get into my bed; I will not give sleep to my eyes or slumber to my eyelids, until I find a place for the LORD, a dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob” (Ps 132:3-5). David was determined. It was a good plan, lovely thoughts. The prophet Nathen liked the plan, but God had a different plan, better plan for David and his people.
God’s Plan
God responds to David’s prayer in this way: “One of the sons of your body I will set on your throne… There I will cause a horn to sprout up for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed one” (Ps 132:11, 17). Here God is not merely talking about one of David’s sons. God is not talking about Solomon. Here what God is saying is about the Messiah, who will come from David’s body, build a house for God’s name, and establish God’s kingdom forever. As God promised, when the time had fully come, Jesus the Messiah did come from David’s body. Jesus destroyed a man-made, temporary temple, and in three days he built a new, permanent temple for God. He did this on the cross. He has removed the barrier of sin and death that separates us from God. He has opened the life-gate of his kingdom that we all may go in.
Skye Jethani, in his book With, tells us about five different ways of life to relate to God: life under God, life over God, life from God, life for God, and life with God. And he expounds further on each life posture in this way[1]:
LIFE UNDER, OVER, FROM, and FOR GOD each seeks to use God to achieve some other goal. God is seen as a means to an end. For example, LIFE FROM GOD uses him to supply our material desires. LIFE OVER GOD uses him as the source of principles or laws. LIFE UNDER GOD tries to manipulate God through obedience to secure blessings and avoid calamity. And LIFE FOR GOD uses him and his mission to gain a sense of direction and purpose. But LIFE WITH GOD is different because its goal is not to use God, its goal is God.
In other words, our plan is to use God in order to acquire our treasure. But God’s plan is to be with us and become our treasure. John Piper rightly said, “Christ did not die to forgive sinners who go on treasuring anything above seeing and savoring God. And people who would be happy in heaven if Christ were not there, will not be there. The gospel is not a way to get people to heaven; it is a way to get people to God.”[2] Through many trials we learn to treasure Christ more than anything in this world. Through this pandemic we learn to treasure Christ more than health and wealth. Through this civil and political unrest, we learn to treasure Christ and his kingdom more than our family, our tribe, our nation.
In the Wilderness
In the wilderness God disciplined his people all the way for 40 years. God had a purpose for this. He had a plan. Deuteronomy 8:3 says, “He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” In other words, God’s plan is not simply to give bread, but to be bread. God’s plan is not just to meet our needs and help us to go on treasuring other things, but to be our treasure, our life.
Once again, in the wilderness Jesus fed the five thousand with five loaves and two fish (cf. John 6). After this, a large crowd was following him. In fact, they were ahead of him and waiting for him. When Jesus arrived, they asked him another miracle, saying, “Show us a miraculous sign if you want us to believe in you. What can you do?” Then, Jesus talked about the true bread from heaven. They said, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life.” In other words, exactly the same message as Deuteronomy’s one: Jesus came not to give bread, but to be bread. Jesus came not to be useful, but to be precious.
Life with God
When we pause and ponder the way we relate to God, we find that too often we live a life under, over, from and for God. We use God to protect, secure, expand our kingdom. But God gently but forcefully keeps nudging us and inviting us to a life with him. Once the CBS anchor interviewed Mother Teresa, asking, “When you pray, what do you say to God?” “I don’t say anything,” she replied. “I listen.” “Okay,” The anchor said, taking another shot at it. “When God speaks to you, then, what does he say?” “He doesn’t say anything. He listens.” He didn’t know how to continue. He was baffled. “And if you don’t understand that,” Mother Teresa added, “I can’t explain it to you.”[3]
Yes, it’s true that prayer is communication with God, talking and listening to God. When we consider prayer as communication, we would be perplexed by Mother Teresa’s answer. But prayer is more than just communication. It’s communion. Life with God means to live in constant communion with God. All of my four daughters love me, but I think for some reason, particularly Esther is a daddy’s girl. Sometimes I have to go to the church office after my children go to bed. Every night she checks on me, “Daddy, are you going to church?” “Why?” I ask. She says, “Just because I like to be with you.” I believe that’s communion – being with God, treasuring God with joy. That’s life with God.
The Now
God’s plan is for us to taste and see this wonderful “life with God” in the now, not after death. The question is “How?” God’s plan for us – Life with God – is not about do’s and don’ts. Audrey West describes what “life with God” means in this way in a recent issue of Christian Century. She saw a video of an archery expert who used his own homemade bow to amaze his audience. He started by having an assistant throw a 6-inch wooden disk in the air and he hit it dead center. A high speed camera captured the shot. The assistant then threw a 2.5-inch plastic ball. Again he hit it dead center. He did it three more times, each time into an even smaller target: a golf ball, then a Life Saver candy, and finally an aspirin tablet. Each time the arrow hit dead center. The show’s host asked how he could hit something that small. The archer replied, “The center of an aspirin is the same size as the center of a beach ball. I just aim for the center!”[4]
A lawyer asked Jesus, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt 22:37-39). In the Jewish tradition there are 613 commandments. But Jesus boils it down to one commandment: “Love God” and “Love your neighbor.” Jesus always aims for the center. Jesus is our perfect example. While he was with us in this world, Jesus was in constant communion with God by loving God and loving people. So, how can we live a life with God “for such a time as this”? Practice loving God. Practice loving your neighbor. Always aim for the center. May God be your treasure, your bread, your life. Amen.
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[1] Skye Jethani, With: Reimagining the Way You Relate to God (p. 103). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.
[2] Ibid., 109.
[3] Ibid., 113-114.
[4] Audrey West, Christian Century, Vol 137.21. 10/7/2020, p. 21.
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