The mind of man plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps. (NASB)
According to Proverbs and the rest of Scripture, we’re commanded to make plans for the future knowingour plans may be altered, redirected, or nullified by God’s purpose.
All my life I’ve believed this is because God knows our future, the end of our story, and beyond. He knows what’s around the bend—the hazards we could face and the dangers we could encounter. So sometimes He alters our plans to protect us. To save us from what we thought we wanted. Or to give us something better than we could have imagined.
All of this is true. But what if there was more to it than that?
What if knowing our plans may be altered, redirected, or nullified by God’s purpose was meant to
- Produce humility in us
- Generate faith
- Remind us of our reliance on God
- Prompt our obedience to Him
- Invoke our surrender to His control
- Cause us to chase after His heart
What if knowing all this is more about our relationship with God than our goals, plans, hope, and dreams?
What if it’s more about knowing Him, loving, Him, and obeying Him the our prosperity and success?
My friend, if we aren’t careful we can make an idol of our plans and worship our goals. We can revere our dreams more than God when we cling to them with white-knuckled tenacity.
So let’s obey God and make our plans. Then let’s put them under His authority and invite Him to direct our steps.
See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you…But if your heart turns away and you are not obedient, and if you are drawn away to bow down to other gods and worship them, I declare to you this day that you will certainly be destroyed…Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. (Deuteronomy 30:15-20)
Blessings
Cheyenne