“Listen to counsel and accept discipline, that you may be wise the rest of your days. Many plans are in a man’s heart, but the counsel of the Lord will stand.” (rf. Prov. 19:20–21 MEV)
“’For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.” (rf. Jer. 29:11 MEV)
Most of us, to some degree, are planners by nature. We want things to be organized, orderly and to fall into place in a logical fashion. This is the reason we use calendars, planners and other means to keep our lives moving in a direction that represents forward progress. When circumstances do not go according to Plan A, we begin to develop contingency plans (i.e. Plan B, C, etc.). We need to have a path that we can follow that leads to a desired end, thus, we create the strategies necessary to hopefully make that happen.
The Lord does not fault us for making plans. Indeed, He makes plans, or shall I say, He has made A plan. For Him, there is only Plan A. For us we have but the ability to make the plans. We have little, if any, capacity to make sure the plan is accomplished, taking into account all known possibilities and distractions. The Lord, on the other hand, is never taken by surprise by circumstance. It is already factored into His plan because He is omniscient, omnipotent and providential in all His actions and ways. Therefore, His Plan A will come to pass without fail, whereas our Plan A may have to morph several times before our plans are fulfilled, if at all.
Both Jeremiah and Solomon above encourage us not to get too hung up on our plans. We can make them as needed, but these two Biblical authors remind us that we are very limited in what we know and what we can actually do to pull off our desired end. Rather, we need to rely completely on the Lord’s plans for us as part of His overall plan. In doing this, we will be assured that the best of all outcomes will, in fact, take place which may or may not align with what we had originally arranged.
In essence, submission to His Lordship over us and our circumstances is the lesson being taught here. When we do submit our plans to His, we will find a greater sense of peace and contentment, rather than fighting and bemoaning circumstances over which we have no control. Let us rest our hearts and minds in the truth that He knows what is best for us and how that best fits into His overall scheme. Then, we will understand better what it means to follow and serve Him as His people.
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