Our Plans and What Really Happens
We all stormed (or rolled) into the year 2020 with big plans, serious resolutions, and high expectations. The American economy was booming, colleges were marching towards commencement ceremonies, our jobs were chugging along as usual, and the NBA and NHL were making a mad dash for the playoffs. Some of us even smiled as we joked about having a “2020 vision” for the year ahead. Then COVID happened and our hopes and visions vanished into thin air.
As we slowly emerge from the dust of this dilemma, like black bears or groundhogs emerging from hibernation after a frigid, furious winter, what will we find? Will the landscape of our lives return to normal? Are we being too careful and moving too slow, or are we being careless and moving too fast? What will change, and what other unexpected surprises are waiting beyond the horizon?
Experiences and questions like the ones we’re facing right now help us evaluate the foundations of our faith and the blunt reality of how we view the world and make decisions in it. More than ever, we’re quite aware that many people have many opinions about what’s going on, what to expect, and what to do. But here’s the real question – are we truly trusting God? To answer this vital question, let’s take a close look at Prov 16:9.
Proverbs 16:9
A man’s heart plans his way,
But the Lord directs his steps.
The book of Proverbs provides an extensive collection of insights for a wide variety of situations. They teach us how to live in a skillful, successful, and satisfying way.
Most importantly, they teach us how to make choices considering what you know about God, for “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Prov 1:7). Since God is who he says he is, does what he says he does, and rules over every aspect of our lives, we should give him the respect he deserves by making choices with him in mind.
This specific principle (Prov 16:9) is important because it’s a “worldview” principle. It applies to our fundamental mindset and overall approach to all the decisions and plans we make in life, not just some of them (like money, marriage, work ethic, or morality).
Examine the Scripture
- Who is doing the action of the first line in this proverb?
- Who is doing the action of the second line in this proverb?
When we read this proverb, we can see that the A-line refers to a person (like you and me) and the B-line refers to the Lord.
- What does a person do according to the A-line?
- But what does the Lord do according to this verse?
The word plan means something like “to plan, compute, plot out – to think out” and describes the way that people think ahead and make plans for their future.
The word direct means something like “to prepare, arrange, direct, or determine.” The basic idea here is that people make plans, but God determines what happens.
This proverb reminds us of at least three things regarding our plans in life:
- We are not in control of our destiny.
- Fate (or chance) is not in control of our destiny either.
- Other people are not in control of our destiny.
According to this proverb, not just a god or any god controls our destiny. There is only one God who determines our destiny and his name is the LORD (Yahweh). If we believe that Yahweh determines what ends up happening in our lives, how should that affect our response to the things that happen?
Conclusion:
As we face the uncertainty of returning to life after COVID, a worldview question faces us after considering Prov 16:9 — are we trusting God about the unexpected things that have happened and will happen in our lives? Are we prepared to trust him entirely with our future, even when He alters our plans?
This article is an excerpt from a Bible study by Thomas Overmiller. The full study appears here.
Thomas Overmiller serves as pastor for Faith Baptist Church in Corona, NY and blogs at Shepherd Thoughts. This article first appeared at Shepherd Thoughts, used here with permission. Next week, Pastor Overmiller moves to Brookdale Baptist Church in Moorhead, MN for a new phase of his ministry.
Photo by Patrick Slaven licensed under a Creative Commons License.