|
"Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans."
- Proverbs 16:3, NIV
"Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails."
- Proverbs 19:21, NIV
"The Lord knows all human plans; he knows that they are futile."
- Psalms 94:11, NIV
This week I was doing some planning. My guess is that many of us are making plans for the year, even though so many things are uncertain. I was planning sermons for the next few months. We try to plan at least a couple of months in advance so that we have an idea, not only of the theme for our sermons, but what the music and other parts of worship might look like. Now I am not a fanatic about planning, but I have found it useful and even necessary. And when I'm finished planning, it feels good to have a plan. Knowing what I am doing next reduces my anxiety and gives me a sense of the overall trajectory of whatever I'm doing.
I started thinking about what the Bible says about planning and discovered the Bible verses above. However, these three verses seem to be coming at the whole process of planning in different ways. Proverbs 16:3 says that if we commit to the Lord whatever we do, God will establish our plans, which sounds like a good thing. Proverbs 19:21 seems to be saying that as humans, we may have many plans, but the plans that prevail are those that fulfill God's purposes. Maybe that means we should evaluate our plans based on what we know about God's purpose for our lives and for the world God loves. When it comes to Psalm 94:11, it doesn't seem to have a very high view on human plans, calling them "futile."
So, maybe one way to put them together is like this: we should begin with God's big purposes for life, such as loving God and loving our neighbor as we love ourselves. If we ignore these when making our own plans, in the long run they may prove futile. But if we are committed to planning in ways that honor God and are consistent with God's will for us in our world, then God will establish those plans. So, don't give up on planning, just do it God's way!
|
