When I sat down to start drafting ideas for this blog post, my mind immediately went to the famous verse in Jeremiah, which says, ‘“For I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.”’ Actually, the Bible is full of references to God’s plans.

But what does the word plan actually mean?

In this context, the Hebrew word for plan is the noun mahashavah, which means “make plans, reckon, account or think.” Every time this word is used in the Bible, it is within the context of making something new. So what if Jeremiah 29:11 actually reads, “I know the new ideas I have for you.” Or actually, in its original context, “I know the new plans that I plan for you.” I think we normally interpret the word plan to mean preparing in advance. People do this all the time: for holiday, or retirement, or getting married etc. It is this use of the word ‘plan’ that I have come to have a lot of questions about. The idea that God has planned in advance a life for us leaves me with more questions that comfort.

Question 2. What about all the bad things that happen to us in life?

If it is all part of God’s plan, then our pain is also included in that- orchestrated by an all-powerful being who loves us unconditionally, but plans in advance for us to experience pain.

For babies to be born dependent on drugs?

For entire populations to be devastated by natural disasters?

For people to die on the shore of a country that won’t let them in as they flee from a country being ripped apart by war?

For incompetent leaders to be running countries, while pedalling their own ideals that will continue to benefit the rich and leave the most vulnerable more vulnerable?

For life to knock you down repeatedly before it really gives you a chance to get back on your feet?

God planned all of this? I find that idea really hard to accept.

You see, from where I am sitting, we either believe God planned it all or that he didn’t plan any of it. I’m not sure we can pick and choose which areas of our lives are part of his plan and which are causes by human error. If He planned the good things and the bad things, that doesn’t seem fair. The good things and bad things don’t get evenly shared out for us to experience these things equally. Aside from that, believing that God planned me to experience pain because it would eventually be good for me, also seems quite cruel. During my lowest moments, this idea provided me no comfort. If anything, it stirred up bitterness and anger in my heart that an all-loving being would put me through those things, regardless of the outcome at the end of it. The end just didn’t justify the means in my mind.

Question 3. Where does free will come into this?

It has been circumstances in my own life that made me ask this question, more than the state of the world that we’re living in. Did God really plan for me to be lied to, cheated on, and rejected by my ex-partners? For my student to be beaten to death two weeks before he turned 18? For me to be diagnosed with a mental health problem and signed off work for a prolonged period of time?

Where does my free will and the free will of others come into this? I have no questions about God’s character being kind and faithful. I still passionately believe that God is kind and faithful to me, that God is always with me and has never left me. But that God planned my life for me? What about my own ideas? My own desires? My own choices?

Maybe we are saying that God has a plan because it helps us to feel comforted in a world that is chaotic, confusing and outright painful? Or because it means we don’t have to take full responsibility for our own choices if we believe that they are also God’s choices?

Question 5. What could this passage in Jeremiah actually mean when we use the word plan?

This verse is actually saying some pretty wonderful things about God’s purpose or goal for us: to prosper us and not to harm us. Prosper comes from the Hebrew word shalom. The goal is always for our peace, for our wholeness, for our fulfillment, for all aspects of our well being.  Any idea God thinks towards us is for our good, not to harm us, not to bring about evil. But maybe the phrase, “I know the plans I have for you,” is actually fluid and evolving and always changing. Maybe it points to: God always having new good ideas towards us and for us, and this is always changing based on what were are doing.

Under this idea, we don’t need to worry about finding out what God’s plan is for our life, or about whether our choices might mess it up completely. We can be empowered to make choices and decisions for ourselves, secure in the knowledge that God is always thinking new things for us that will be good. Maybe when we feel conflicted about making decisions, we can find comfort in the truth that God desires our wholeness, and fulfillment- and make the decision that will lead us closer to that.  It means we don’t need to try to comfort ourselves during the darkest, most painful times with the idea that our suffering was part of God’s plan- it wasn’t. But he is present and faithful and concerned totally with our well being.

This post may generate more questions. You may find it to be in opposition to what you believe. My hope is only that you’d engage with some of the questions in this post and consider the endless possible answers to them.