On Waiting for the Plan, a devotional thought

 The other day I was reading through Psalm 106 and I came across a line that gave me pause. The Psalm recalls Israel’s exodus from Egypt, how the Lord brought the people out of slavery and delivered them through the Red Sea. It explains how, having seen the Lord sweep away their enemies with the water of the sea, the people “believed his promises and sang his praise” (v. 12).

So far so good; but things make a sudden U-turn in verse 13: “They soon forgot what he had done,” it says, “and did not wait for his ‘plan to unfold.’” The story should be familiar to anyone who has a working knowledge of the Book of Exodus (which the Psalm seems to be referencing here). Israel had seen the Lord’s mighty act of deliverance, but because they couldn’t see a way through the desert they began to grumble, forgetting the mighty acts of deliverance he’d already accomplished for them.

It’s a familiar story. What was less familiar to me was the wording of the second half of the verse, “they did not wait for his plan to unfold.” I’ve never quite heard it put that way: in their grumbling for bread and their longing to return to Egypt, the people were “unwilling to let the Lord’s plan unfold in their lives.” Such a curious but powerful way to put it. 

I looked it up to be sure, and it turns out that my translation (the NIV) is on its own in this rendering.  Most translations say something like “they did not wait for his counsel.” “Counsel” is probably a more literal translation there. The Hebrew word in question is ‘aṣaṯ, which usually refers to the counsel an advisor might give a king.  When it’s applied to the Lord specifically, however, it usually has the sense of “purpose,” “intention,” or (roughly) “plan.” After all, God keeps his own counsel. No one acts as his advisor, and when he gives his counsel to us it’s not as an advisor to a king, but as a master to his servants. 

So the NIV is paraphrasing, but only slightly, when it says that Israel’s problem in the desert was that they were unwilling to wait for his plan to unfold. And even though most other translations render the verse more literally, and simply say that Israel refused to “wait on his counsel,” I prefer the NIV’s take on the matter.

Not just because it seems to handle the context for the word ‘aṣaṯ better, but because it rings so true on a spiritual level. How many of us, I wonder, have found ourselves facing a difficult trial like Israel did in her desert wanderings, and like Israel, we too started grumbling against God because we couldn’t believe that God had a plan? We couldn’t see how all the difficulties fit into his plan, or how his plan was unfolding through it; and even if we could see it, abstractly, we we’re willing to wait for it to unfold in front of us.

It’s a sobering thought. Especially for the church today, facing all kinds of challenges and question-marks because of covid restrictions and pandemic lockdowns. Does God have an ‘aṣaṯfor us in this, Psalm 106 verse 13 might ask us to ask? If so, can we see that he does?  And if we can, are we willing to wait for him to unfold it in our lives?