Sometimes, There is No Plan B

Recently, I visited the Flight 93 Memorial in Pennsylvania, honoring the passengers and crew of the American Airlines flight that ended with a crash in the Pennsylvania countryside on 9/11 instead of being used as a weapon against a major government building in Washington, D.C. Those brave people consulted in the back of the plane and chose to fight the terrorists, offering their own lives. Nobody else in the world could take their place. For them, there was no Plan B.

God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He is self-sufficient and omnipotent. No one can add a single thing to His infinite power. Yet in His sovereign will, God elects to use mere mortals for His continuing work of reclaiming this fallen world. In scripture, we often see a single person chosen as God’s instrument for His divine action, that person responding, and God releasing His power for supernatural effect. In that pattern, God reveals no other options.

For example, Esther was singled out to become Ahasuerus’ queen; Philip ran to the Ethiopian eunuch and led that important official to faith; and Paul used his personal imprisonment in a way that propelled the spread of the gospel in Rome. In each case, there was no apparent Plan B.

You are divinely placed for a purpose—to encourage another, direct a seeker to the truth, or mentor a growing Christian. If you are a parent, you are God’s sovereign choice to raise your children. If you are a leader, perhaps you are the one He appointed to initiate and lead a local fellowship, or you may be the one leader Christ has chosen as His ambassador in a unit or staff.

To those He calls, He equips. Paul wrote to young Timothy, “I thank Christ Jesus my Lord for strengthening me, for He has judged me faithful, putting me into service” (1 Timothy 1:12).

Joining His plan invites His power. Will you heed His call? There may be no Plan B.