The Magic Eight Ball

What our Series "Plan B" is all About

Who doesn’t want to know God’s will for their lives?  And yet sometimes we view it Magic Eight Ball, jigsaw puzzle, maze, or a GPS.  What if God’s will wasn’t like any of those things?  Would we be so afraid of Plan B?

The Magic Eight Ball

Many of us had this toy growing up, and we would ask it a “yes” or “no” question, shake, and then out of the murky blue would come an answer.  And even today, some of us wish that God would work that way too, giving us all the answers about everything He is calling us to.  In 1 Kings 19, God leads Elijah to call Elisha as his successor.  This wasn’t Elisha’s plan for his life, but it is God’s plan.  Elisha was a wealthy farmer, and now God is calling him to leave that stability, predictability, and comfo

rt behind.  And since there is tension between Elisha’s “Plan A” and God’s “Plan B”, Elisha slaughters his oxen and cooks them over a fire made from his plow, to ensure that he would never look back.

The Point

You don't have to understand fully to obey immediately

At Home Suggestions

Talk with your teens about a time when God asked you to do something very different from what you were expecting.  How did you experience the tension between your “Plan A” and God’s “Plan B”?

Read James 4:17 Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it. (NLT)

Ask: Has there ever been a time when you knew what you ought to do, but you didn’t do it?  When God has a plan for you, do you have to understand fully to obey immediately?  What are some things you ought to do now, even though you don’t understand where that path may take you in the future?

Explain that none of us need to understand everything to be able to obey God now.

Pray that your family would follow God’s call on their lives without looking back, even if you don’t understand everything.