PLAN A OR PLAN B

I Was Just Thinking About - - -

Among the news stories in The Drudge Report today is an idea being promoted by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. His rationale is based upon a concern for the increasing consumption of energy on planet Earth. Part of his summation is: “We now know in our solar system this is the only planet that's really ideal for us. It's pretty extraordinary. Some people even think we were evolved to live on this planet, that's how ideal it is for us.... That was a joke, folks. We're not going to find another Earth and we can't cover the whole surface of the Earth with solar cells. We only have a few hundred years to figure this out…I like the idea we kind of expand out into the solar system and preserve Earth as, you know, kind of light industrial and residential. Keep this the great planet that it is and move all heavy industry off Earth where there's for all practical places limitless energy and limitless resources."

The past couple of generations have been caught up in the fascination of space. The TV series Star Trek and the film and sequels of Star Wars have captured the imagination of young and old alike. Most who were born in the 1960s have memories of the Russian effort to enter space with their Sputnik Space Craft and the race that ensued with the United States regarding who would achieve going to the Moon and back again. Just recently, a historic achievement occurred. The news report was: “Scott Kelly is back in the United States after spending 340 days in space, aboard the International Space Station. It is the longest a US astronaut has ever spent in space on a single trip. Along with his crewmates he was involved in more than 450 experiments while on board. Life in microgravity meant his height increased by 3.8cm but he has since returned to his normal size back on Earth.”

An important question that all should consider is the Plan A of the Creator of this world and universe. Jeff Bezos expresses his Plan B out of concern for the human race and its survival on Earth. Meanwhile, little mention is made nor is it being considered of the Plan A of God. What will happen in the future for God’s Creation? We have a glimpse of it in I Thessalonians 5:1-11, “About times and dates we do not need to write to you, for you know very well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, Peace and safety, destruction will come on them suddenly, as labor pains on a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness. So then, let us not be like others, who are asleep, but let us be awake and sober…Since we belong to the day, let us be sober, putting on faith and love as a breastplate, and the hope of salvation as a helmet. For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that, whether we are awake or asleep, we may live together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.”

In the Play, The Man of La Mancha (1972), a dramatic song is sung. Some of the words of My Quest are: “To dream the impossible dream, To fight the unbeatable foe, To bear with unbearable sorrow, To run where the brave dare not go; To right the unrightable wrong…This is my quest, To follow that star, No matter how hopeless, No matter how far…To be willing to march into Hell For a heavenly cause…And the world will be better for this, That one man, scorned and covered with scars, Still strove with his last ounce of courage, To reach the unreachable star.” The problem with this philosophy and goal is that it is a humanistic effort (humanism = human fulfillment in the natural world that rejects the importance of belief in God). It is a failure to give a rightful place for the absolutes of Almighty God. One of God’s Attributes (thus an Absolute) is His Omnipotence. Amid his many difficulties and losses, in Job 42:2 Job replies to the Lord: “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted.” When the Virgin Mary learns of her choice to give birth to Jesus Christ and the means of conception, she is reminded by the Angel (Luke 1:37): “For no word from God will ever fail – nothing is impossible with God.” So – where are you today? Are you caught up in the theories and philosophies of humanity (Plan B) or in the fact of The God Who is in control of all things at all times (Plan A)? Consider these things with me!