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God’s
Lesson Plans
By Jerri Phillips
When I was teaching, I had to turn my
lesson plans in weekly. For those who are
unfamiliar with the makeup of lesson
plans, a lesson plan is comprised of an
objective (what the desired result is),
the method of teaching, and an activity
(the exercise used to enforce the
objective).
Since I taught sixth-grade math, my
objectives included things like:
1. The student will add four-digit
numbers.
2. The student will multiply using a
two-digit multiplier.
3. The student will add fractions with
different denominators.
While each objective appears to stand
alone in the lesson plans, the truth is
each objective is merely a piece of a
larger objective. For instance, addition
is the very basic skill for
multiplication, and without
multiplication, solving algebraic
equations is impossible. With each
objective, the teacher is moving the
student on to a bigger concept, to an
even greater objective.
Often when a concept is taught, it is not
completely useful at the time. Do
elementary students have a lot of use for
addition or multiplication? In truth, not
really. For the most part, anything a
child has can be counted. Addition,
division, and multiplication are not
musts for children. So why is it part of
the lesson plans? Because as teachers, we
are using today to prepare these
promising little people for Someday.
Someday these little people will need to
figure out checking accounts, the best
buy per unit at the grocery store, how
much their home will cost if they build
it based on price per square foot, and so
on. Someday these children will need the
skills listed in the lesson plans, and we
teachers have to prepare them for when
that time arrives.
Do you ever wonder what God’s lesson
plans are? I do.
There are times when I feel like I could
get through an activity a whole lot
faster if I could just have a peek at the
objective. If I could just find out what
exactly we are studying, I could do my
homework far more efficiently.
Right now I really want to see God’s
lesson plan book because I’m stumped
and I really want one of the present
activities of some friends to be
resolved. A very precious friend of ours
has been diagnosed with brain cancer. It
is aggressive, and without God’s
intervention, it is terminal.
Now I’ll be frank. I’m
struggling. Emotionally, I’m
struggling on many levels. This is a dear
friend of ours, and I hate the idea of
losing my friends. As a wife and mother,
I’m struggling. Our friend is
married with four marvelous children.
Mentally, I cannot wrap my mind around
the prospect of Stephen leaving this
world, and yet, the doctor’s
prognosis is grim. Spiritually, I want to
see the lesson plans. What on earth can
God want us to learn from this?
Yesterday, my children and I were
decorating part of the outside of the
house for Christmas when our neighbor
came home from work. He came over to see
what was up, and we began to talk. I told
him about Stephen and my struggles. He
listened, and when I was done, he said,
“I guess I just see life and death
differently. I see it as we are here to
learn something or do something, and when
we’ve fulfilled that, we go on. We
were never meant to stay here. We simply
have a purpose, and when it’s done,
so are we.”
Ray was right. He had seen the lesson
plans for what they were: a tiny step in
a huge goal. While I was complaining
about today’s homework, Ray was
seeing the Someday.
I imagine the Lord hears a lot of
complaints about today’s homework.
When I was a teacher, I was asked two
questions on a regular basis. “Why
do we have to learn this?” and,
“When will we every use this?”
were heard quite often in my classroom. I
am confident God hears similar things.
“God, why am I stuck in such a lousy
job?”
“Lord, why won’t you get me a
new car?”
“Why is it that you aren’t
helping me get out of debt?”
As my three-year old says, “Why?
Why? Why? Why? Why??!?”
Biblically speaking, Ray was right. There
is a larger purpose to be accomplished.
Oh, we can try to pinpoint the specific
objectivess. Maybe you lost your job
because God wants you to learn faith.
Maybe our heater went out so we could
learn persevering gratitude. We can
“maybe” and “perhaps”
things into the ground, and, in truth,
does it help us? Only in our fleshly
desire to feel secure that all of life
makes sense. The reality is we don’t
like to think things happen unfairly, so
we try to determine the cause.
The cause is found in the Someday. Romans
8:28-29 says, “And we know that in
all things God works for the good of
those who love him, who have been called
according to his purpose. For those God
foreknew he also predestined to be
conformed to the likeness of his Son,
that he might be the firstborn among many
brothers.”
Several of us can quote verse 28, but we
often leave off verse 29. We like the
“all things working for our
good” part, but too often we forget
that the only good God is really focused
on is our being transformed to the
likeness of Christ. We get focused on the
temporal good, but God is fixed on our
eternal good.
In 2 Corinthians 3:18, we are told that
we “are being transformed into his
likeness with ever-increasing
glory.”
God’s lesson plans for my life today
may say:
- Objective 1: Jerri’s faith
will increase.
- Objective 2: Jerri will learn
that I am interested in the
details of her life.
- Activity: Jerri will misplace the
electrical plug for the camcorder
and need to find it so she can
dub videos.
For you, they may say something
completely different, but the overall
objective is the same: my child will be
transformed into my image.
How are Stephen and his family being
transformed into the image of God? I
don’t know exactly. I don’t
think any of us ever know exactly. I have
a few guesses, though.
If you were to speak to this couple, the
peace would nearly overwhelm you. Grace
is an element that not only saturates
them, but also pours from them. Their
faith and joy humble me as I struggle
with Stephen’s illness. “We are
living, not dying.” I am challenged
by those words.
Maybe this trial is less about them and
more about God using them to transform
others. Again, I don’t know. I only
know God’s Someday for all of us is
to be like Him, and He specializes the
curriculum for our individual needs.
“When will we ever use this?”
The answer is the same. Someday.
Someday when someone else is struggling
and needs you to hold them up. Someday
when someone has lost the way and needs
the light of Jesus to give them
direction. Someday when you stand before
the Father desiring to hear the precious
words, “Well done, my good and
faithful servant.”
So what do we do about our learning
activity today? Ask God what He wants you
to learn. He’s not one to keep
secrets. He’ll tell you. If you fail
miserably, ask forgiveness, learn from
your mistakes, and keep studying. I give
you my word: God will give you a chance
to be retest, probably sooner than
you’d like.
Does it make today’s learning
easier? Not usually. Does it make it go
by more quickly? Not in my experience. Is
it worth it? It will be. Someday.
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