PLANNING

A man need not know every detail of the master plan, just that it is the master’s plan

Created in God’s image, man alone among animals can separate his consciousness into past, present, and future. Having learned from the past, he can predict the future and plan for it in the present. This is part of God’s master plan.

But the fact that God has provided man with the capacity to plan does not mean that He intends for us to do His planning for Him. As He is the master of creation it is His plan that is the master plan, not the plans of man.

This being so, why should we plan anything? Why not just say qué será, será and passively wait for what God to act? The answer is the same for all of man’s God-given capacities—we are to use it because He gave it to us, though not for ourselves but rather to actively participate in furtherance of His plan. He trusts us to do so, or He would not have granted us the capacity to plan.

But can we do that if we do not know all the details of the master plan? Sure—in the same way that a dog does not need to know where you are taking him when you open the car door and tell him to jump in. He obeys because he trusts that whatever the destination, it will be in his best interest because you love him.

A dog cannot plan, but he does not need to because he trusts his master. A man can plan, and he must do so because his master trusts him.

A man need not know every detail of the master plan, just that it is the master’s plan