Plan B

Some things are permitted.

In some cases even provided.

But they are clearly not God’s highest and best for you.

Actually not really His intention for you.

Let me explain with a puzzling passage of Scripture.

The people of Israel were delivered from slavery and the whip of the task masters of Egypt. After some hair-raising encounters with the Egyptian army, an impassible body of water, thirst and hunger, they arrived at the base of Mount Sinai. It is also referred to in Scripture as the Mountain of the Lord. And they set up camp there while Moses was invited up to the summit to receive instructions from the Lord about their future. It is during that time on the summit that God informed Moses of His intention to “live amongst” the people in a portable Tabernacle (Exodus 25:8).

By that time God had already made His presence known to Moses and the people. The cloud and the pillar of fire were just two examples of how God intended to be with His people to lead them, bless them, provide for them and protect them. But, with the Tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant, God would make His presence known tangibly to His people day-to-day. What an amazing thing that must have been to see from the door of your tent every day! How reassuring, traveling through the most inhospitable desert, to know that God was with you. You could see the cloud of His glory. You could taste the refreshing of His daily provision of manna and water. You could feel the rumbling of His power on the mountain.

But, in spite of the manifest presence of God, and for reasons I’ll never understand, the people got restless during the forty days of Moses’ absence and talked Aaron into the golden calf fiasco.

So, here comes the surprise.

On the heels of their drastic disobedience at the base of Sinai, God is still willing to give them what He had promised. Specifically, five things that every one of us would love to have (Exodus 33:1-3a):

1. Forward progress…“leave this place…”

2. Inheritance…“the land I promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

3. Signs and wonders…“I will send an angel ahead of you.”

4. Victory…“he’ll drive out the enemy.”

5. Prosperity…“it’s a land flowing with milk and honey.”

And, just about the time Moses and the whole company of Israelites got excited about these five things, they were informed that it was God’s plan B.

It was not His highest and best for them.

It was not even His primary purpose for them.

Because, in the second half of verse 3, after enumerating the things He was still willing to do for them, God dropped a bombshell, “But my presence will not go with you!”

What?

Israel’s disobedience and sin, associated with the worship of the golden calf, had cost them God’s manifest presence.

No more cloud over the Tabernacle.

No more guidance as the cloud moved.

No more protection from hostile forces.

No more fire illuminating the dark desert nights.

Fortunately, Moses was having nothing to do with plan B. “If Your presence doesn’t go with us, don’t move us from this place!” (verse 15). In other words, none of the five “blessings” would be blessings without God’s manifest presence. The Tabernacle would just be a tent. The Ark of the Covenant would just be a box. Israel would be without guidance, protection, or provision if they lost the presence of God.

Moses knew that and was not moving until God returned to be with His people.

The New Testament equivalent of plan B, in Genesis 33, would be the church of Laodicea in Revelation 3. The church had everything right there in the wealthy city of Laodicea. Corporate worship. Preaching. Progress. Discipleship. Leadership. Governance. Apostolic heritage. Buildings. Prosperity. But Jesus was left outside and no one seemed to be aware of it or have a problem with it!

God gives us wisdom and discernment that, like Moses, we renounce every promise or blessing available to our lives or churches if they come at the expense of God’s manifest presence. We renounce plan B because there is nothing in it that affirms God’s pleasure over us like His manifest presence (Exodus 33:16a). There is nothing that distinguishes us from any other social club or organization other than God’s manifest presence (Exodus 33:16b).

Lord, make us hungry for Your presence to be made known to us today!