Man with a Plan Asks, "Is This God's Plan, Too?"
by Pastor Walter Snyder

I've been searching for a religious figure to ask a few questions. I recently moved to a
foreign country and don't have a church family yet. While there are churches of my faith,
language poses problems. I realize you're busy, so I hope you'll be able to answer me.

Q1: I think that everything happens for a reason and that God has a plan for everyone and
always felt that God has a hand in my life. I get confused trying to know if I'm doing God's
will. Or if I were, but committed a big sin, does God keep planned things from happening?
Lately I've been really wanting to return to school to obtain my masters. I'm not sure if this
is His will or not. I've also recently "fallen" a few times and been living in sin. If God willed
me to return to graduate school, will He stop this because of my sin? Does He prevent what
He intends from happening if I sin? I think I'm getting an unhealthy view of how His will
works. For instance, in applying to grad school I had to study for and take the GRE. For
two months I didn't go out or drink and didn't give in to my normal temptations as I might
have otherwise. I believed that if I knowingly sinned before the exam, I wouldn't do well.
Help me make sense of this, and with how God's will works in our lives.

A1: The will of God is first and foremost that sinners repent and believe in Jesus as Savior from
their sins. We sometimes go too far toward either believing that God manipulates every aspect of
our lives or else deny any influence at all. It sounds as if you are waiting for a sign that God is
pushing all the right buttons in your life. While faith might be compared to a "true/false" test
(either we believe and respond to God's love or we don't), life is more "multiple choice," often
with multiple "correct" answers. I encourage you not to look for signs that you are doing God's
will but rather to use the talents and abilities He gives in a manner pleasing to Him. Thus, if
someone is good with numbers, he might become a mathematician or a banker---both are good
vocations when occupied by believers. If someone has good people skills, how might she apply
them in a life of honest labor and Christian service? God blesses and prospers each person
differently. If you definitely shouldn't do something, you'll find that out as you go along. God
may not give you what He first desired, but He still gives countless blessings. Sometimes the
"second choice" even exceeds what He first wanted.

Q2: I'm also not sure about my future. Some people always knew what they wanted to do
when they "grew up" and then grew up and did it. There are many things I'd like to do;
however, I wonder that I might want to do something that's not God's will. When someone
says, "where do you see yourself in 10 years?" how do I answer? I guess I'm confused with
how this works out.

A2: Your first and second questions tie together. We plan but go forward in faith. Shakespeare
said, "Man proposes but God disposes." Rest assured that when your plans are congruent with
God's will, they'll prosper. If not, then He allows you other options. If you wait to "know for
sure," you'll end up never knowing a true life of Christian service in a God-pleasing vocation.

Q3: Lastly, I've suffered homosexual desires all my life. I recently sought advice from my
old pastor and came to terms that it isn't right. I truly believe it is wrong and unnatural
and don't want to live that way. Yet I suffer daily temptation and these desires get harder
to resist the older I get. What if I marry a woman? Is it possible? Can those with such
homosexual temptations marry and fall in love? I read one of your responses that marriage
isn't for everyone. I dream of having a wife, a house, a family, a marriage, etc. But I also
believe in marriage with honesty, so how could I marry and not tell my wife about these
struggles? And how could a women be happily married to a man whom she knows has
desires towards men? I know many people contact you, so thank you in advance, Pastor
Snyder. I look forward to hearing back from you.

A3: I agree that homosexuality is a sin. Yet it's one more sin that God forgives. I cannot tell you
whom you should or shouldn't tell---you need to decide based upon your knowledge of yourself
and the woman. If you wonder if you could stay faithful, then you must talk with her. Suppose
that you have desires to steal or to act violently: Would you always tell your loved ones, or only if
it made a difference in their lives as well as yours? Only you can decide upon an answer to this.

Some find that marriage helps turn sinful desire to God-pleasing desire for the wife, finding that
the Spirit trains passions to find correct objects of expression. Others marry hoping for a "cure"
and find that marriage is a greater problem. As you work through this, you'll decide based upon
your knowledge of God and yourself and will act accordingly. If specific questions remain about
His direction, please write back. Remember that every Christian is a sinner. Even the most saintly
"have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Rom 3:23)" So also, all of us "are justified by His
grace, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. (3:24)" If you can marry without making a
mockery of God's grace, and think you can, God helping you, keep the marriage bed pure, then
trust His promises and continue in faith. If not, if you worry about sinning against wife and God,
if you fear sharing disease or despair rather than old age together, then ask for His strength in
keeping you celibate. God bless you as you struggle with His Word and will.

Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from ~The Holy Bible, English Standard
Version~<TM>, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles.

Ask the Pastor, © 2003 by Walter P. Snyder. It may be reproduced in totality, including this
disclaimer, by anyone, provided that no profit is generated by said republication and
redistribution. Translations into other languages should similarly note the United States
and any appropriate international copyrights, as well as God's Scriptural injunctions
concerning the property of others.

Walter Snyder is the pastor of Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Emma, Missouri and coauthor of
the book "What Do Lutherans Believe."