Proverbs 16:9 is one of my husband’s favorite verses: “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.” I like one just before it: Proverbs 16:3, “Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.” Either way, planning means giving priority to God’s input.
The OT has several words translated PLAN. They are used for our plans and God’s. His plans can refer to what He wants for us or how He reacts to our activities. He plans protection for us yet also consequences for sin. Most people do not understand His plans nor realize they are eternal. As the psalmist says, “The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.”
The Bible shows that God’s plans are thoughtful, often intricate, detailed, and intentional. His choices are calculated and the result of careful consideration and evaluation. He told His people:
Jeremiah 29:11–13. “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
Sometimes God reveals His plans and even if not, all that He plans will come to pass. Isaiah 14:24 declares, “The Lord of hosts has sworn: ‘As I have planned, so shall it be, and as I have purposed, so shall it stand’ ”
God’s thoughts are superior. He says, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” This is often illustrated in life. This week a friend prayed for a wheelchair needed by another friend. She was hurrying to do an errand when she saw someone loading a wheelchair into a vehicle. The Lord urged her to turn around and ask about it. She did, reluctant for this seemed an odd and even brazen thing to do. However, the person with the chair worked with people who had a wheelchair to give away and God’s plan had my friend in the right place at the right time to answer her prayer!
Human plans are not always good. For that, “The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.” (Psalm 33:10–11) This is why we need to “Trust in the Lord with all our heart, and not lean on our own understanding. In all our ways we must acknowledge him, and he will make straight our paths.”
The NT says the same things. We plan and our plans seem good, even godly, but we are not as wise as God and not in control. Paul realized that God was in charge of his life and the ultimate creator of his to-do list:
Romans 1:13. “I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that I have often intended to come to you (but thus far have been prevented), in order that I may reap some harvest among you as well as among the rest of the Gentiles.”
Paul knew God’s ultimate plan for humanity is redemption. He created us in His image. That image was marred by sin. The rest of the human story involves God working out His plan to redeem and restore us that we can be all that He intended. Sin is deep. In wanting to run our own lives, many fail to realize that this decision opposes the plan of God, even if our plans seem good. To fully experience the wonder of God’s plans and have a deeper understanding of what they are, we need to experience the blessing of faith, rebirth and eternal life:
Ephesians 1:7–10. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. As for daily life, I can make a to-do list, but at the same time must be open to God’s plans. He may interrupt my plans, or alter them, or even check them off before I get to them, but if they line up with His plans, He will bless my obedience and make it fruitful and glorious for Him.
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