We all know that things don't always go the way we think they should. Sometimes that's our own fault. But how do you explain it when you've been praying and you're convinced that something is in line with the will of God, and yet things don't pan out?

Even the apostle Paul had times when things didn't seem to be going according to plan. One case in point is in Acts 17 when Paul and Silas planted a church in Thessalonica. Although several people received God's message (Acts 17:4), Paul and Silas ended up fleeing in the middle of the night to escape a crazed mob (17:10). They had little choice but to orphan a newborn church and let it fend for itself in the midst of much persecution. The situation was far from ideal. Could this fledgling church survive so many trials without the apostle to lead it? 

What was worse, Paul's attempts to return to the young church to build it up were frustrated. He writes to the believers in Thessalonica and tells them of his plight: "Out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you. For we wanted to come to you--certainly I, Paul, did, again and again--but Satan stopped us" (1 Thessalonians 2:17-18).

Satan stopped the apostle Paul? How do you fit that into your theology of spiritual warfare? 

Was it that Paul wasn't doing God's will? No. Paul was fulfilling the Great Commission and, specifically, fulfilling his role as apostle to the Gentiles. Was it that Paul wasn't prayed up enough or had been spiritually slacking? No, we know from 1 Thessalonians 3:10 that Paul, himself, tells the church, "Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith." Was it that Satan was just too tough or too smart and outwitted Almighty God? Obviously not. So what happened? 

Since God is sovereign and we see no sign of Paul being out of step with God's will here, God must have allowed Satan to hinder Paul from returning to the Thessalonians. But why would God do such a thing? Wouldn't it be beneficial for them to be built up in the teaching that Paul could give them? Yes, but consider what came about as a result of Paul not immedately mothering the Thessalonians. 

First, Timothy was launched into a position of ministry. Paul writes to the church, "So when we could stand it [separation from the Thessalonians] no longer we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens. We sent Timothy. . .to strengthen and encourage you in your faith" (1 Thessalonians 3:1-2). Timothy, little Timmy--the one whom Paul would later exhort not to let anyone look down on him because of his youth--was Paul's plan B. But it appears that "little Timmy" might also have been God's plan A. God was passing the baton of the gospel on to the next generation.

Second, Paul's absence from the church forced the Thessalonians to learn to depend on God, not any man--not even an apostle. What was the fruit of the Thessalonians' baby faith? "In spite of severe suffering, you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia. . .your faith has become known everywhere" (1 Thessalonians 1:8). The Thessalonian church had to learn to become dependent on God to survive. In doing this, they thrived. (As an aside, we can learn an important lesson from this. When everything seems to be going sideways, it's easy to try to turn to our parents, or pastors or our favorite super-teachers to help us. But we need to turn to God first. This year we've seen the passing of Herb, Adrian Rogers and other Christian leaders, but God has not left us as orphans. The same Lord who purchased us with His blood is ready to commune with us and use us to multiply His work in this generation.)

When we've done all that we can do, we have to realize that sometimes our plan B is God's plan A.