Message: No matter how much we plan things God
is ultimately in charge. This has both a positive and a negative effect. Make
plans but understand that our collective plans are part of a much bigger
picture and God is the designer.
Command: Submit our hearts to God and he will
direct us into making the right plans.
Promise: Commit your actions to the Lord and
your plans will succeed.
Warning: Pride goes before desctruction.
Application: I don’t consider myself a full-blown “Type
A” personality. I like to have a plan of action to get things done but I’m also
a very easy-going spontaneous person too. As I read Proverbs 16 I saw a theme
throughout it about making plans and recognizing that we are still at the mercy
of God. I didn’t really think this was a problem in my life until I realized that
plans are a lot more than a to-do list. I realized that often times the plans
we make have more to do with becoming emotionally attached to a particular outcome
to a situation. So much so that we have never entertained the idea of it going
any other way. These are plans too and if I’m honest, I have definitely made plans
like these and have been so convinced of the outcome going the way I planned it
in my mind that I never stopped to question whether they coincided with God’s
plans or not. In my mind my plans and ideas were the right ones and I have even
had the audacity to pray out my plans to God as if he was following my command.
The truth is I am usually surprised by the outcome God chooses to use and I rarely
looks anything like the plan I had so perfectly concocted in my mind. I have
had to learn to release my (false) sense of control over the situations I’m praying for so that I
don’t become a stumbling block standing in the way of the real actual plan that
God has in mind. I’m not saying we shouldn’t make plans. It’s highly irresponsible
not to make plans. I’m just saying I feel challenged as I read this to remember
that my plans and ideas are penciled in to provide some structure, but God has
the right and the authority to take an eraser to anything he plans to do
differently. My plans are often good but God’s plans are perfect.
