We can make our own plans, but the Lord gives the right answer.
People may be pure in their own eyes, but the Lord examines their motives.
Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed. Proverbs 16:1-3 NLT
At least four times in the Psalms (33:10) and the Proverbs (16:1, 9; 19:21) the statement is made in one way or another that humans may make plans, but God will determine the outcome. One way of responding to that sentiment is to say, “Why bother to plan, then? God’s going to do his thing regardless of what we work out in advance. We might just as well “fly by the seat of our pants” and “go with the flow.” But it is also said that a wise man takes counsel and plans in advance (Prov 20:18). So what are we to make of this. Do we plan or not?
The book of James gives us some guidance on this point. The author condemns those who say with confidence that they are going to do this or that not having taken God into account (4:13-16). But this means more than just tacking “Lord willing” on to the front of our plans. It means that we genuinely search for God’s will as we make those plans.
This is the point that the third verse above is making when it says, “Commit your actions to the Lord.” The point is that we do not make our plans first and then ask God to bless them. Rather, we earnestly seek his will before we begin the planning process. We understand that it is plans that God can bless that will succeed, and he can bless them because they conform to his purposes. What this is saying is that we and God are in partnership together. Yes, we need to use the minds and experiences that he has given us, but we use them in conformity to his revealed will and in the light of his Spirit’s reliable guidance.
Called To Be Transformed 