No room for failure, no room for God

"Singapore is a very capable nation with a good work ethic. We can easily program God out. We plan well. We work well. We do our budgets well. We don't leave a whole lot of room for God to deliver us because we have it under control." Don Moen, IMPACT, Vol 33 No.22 Apr+May 2009.

I agree with Don, except that I suspect this happens to the Christian in practically every modern and successful society. We either plan and execute well, or we are stamped with the word - "FAILED". It's just not acceptable to say "we don't know what's gonna happen next" or ask "what contingency plan?". If Moses were to live today, he would have been ousted right from the start, because he brought the Israelites out of Egypt without a budget or even an itinerary. What was he thinking? He was anything but a leader, according to modern day business schools.

We, Christians (oh, thanks to Moses, by the way), are supposed to be more enlightened today with the benefit of hindsight and lessons learnt recorded in the Bible. We should have understood God better, that He supplements our weaknesses with His strength, and that without faith, it is impossible to please Him. Sadly, we only became more narrow-minded spiritually as men's words from the marketplace and everywhere squeeze out God's.

We slap KPIs on God's work and appraise performance using metrics influenced by the business class. We get obsessed with measurable results and faithfully apply methodologies, templates, and frameworks. We do budgets and analyze variances in the name of better governance and transparency. We expect instant justification and evidence. There's no room for uncertainty, no room for failure, no room for that intangible thing known as "faith" which characterizes men of old, such as Abraham, Jacob and Moses. We will never be like the widow who just about used up the last drop of oil and flour before her encounter with Elijah. Doesn't she plan ahead? We certainly would not have followed Moses out of Egypt without first seeing his master plan or getting satisfactory answers to our tough AGM-style questions. We know better, or so, we think.

The problem with man since the days of Adam is that we like to know and have the answer now, and the devil knew that all along. Somehow, waiting in the face of uncertainty seems like a bad thing that doesn't square with our pride or reputation, and again, the devil knew that. For us, it's only good if it is now or never, 100% or nothing. There's no room for "maybe".

Well, maybe it's time we ask: Have we planned or programmed God out of our lives? Have we left no contingency for God to show up?

Make no mistake. I am not advocating reckless and irresponsible living, so that God can clean up our mess. I am certainly not suggesting that we don't plan at all and simply drift along. Planning, good stewardship and faith can co-exist. The key to that is learning to listen to and wait upon the Lord, even at the planning stage.

Many of us are only too eager to get the planning done and start executing. Even the calendar is mechanically filled up without so much as asking God whether that's what He wants. If only we learn to listen more and be patient. God doesn't make mistakes like we do. He is perfect. If we don't see His plan unfolding after we have heard Him clearly, we don't have to activate Plan B, like Sarah and Abraham did with Hagar. Faith simply means trusting God to do His part, and that means setting aside room for God, not just to stand and watch, but to do something significantly more.

Thomas