#186: Yearly Plan

 

Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand. (Proverbs 19:21)

Today's post is a sequel to the previous post: Let God Lead.

This is another year. It is another time to be wild with plans and visions. by definition, planning entails designing the intentions for the future. One thing we all agree is that no one has been in the future. But there is a God who knows the end from the beginning. He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End (Rev 1:8). He is not limited by time and space. And He knows this, not necessarily because He has seen it, but because, as our key verse puts it, He purposes them by divine decree (Job 42:2; Isaiah 46:9-10)

The bible does not discourage planning. The counsel of the bible is that we are very limited in knowledge as men. we only know the present and the past; we could use these to forecast a future, but we do not have the decisive power to create or orchestrate a future event - no matter how sophisticated your plan is.

We only need to look a few years back (2020) to see how many of the plans in the hearts of men were abrupted and cancelled because of a global pandemic. Jesus told a parable of someone who has brilliant ideas and plans, but did not acknowledge God's providence and sovereignty while planning:

And Jesus told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself 'what shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?' And he said, 'I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry." But God said to him, 'Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' (Luke 12:13-20)

What the rich man failed to realise is that a person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven (John 3:27). Indeed, what do we have that we did not receive (I Cor 4:7)?

Let us conclude with a piece of advice from James:

Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit" - yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If the LORD wills, we will live and do this or that" (James 4:13-15). 

According to James, the ultimate and decisive power is in the hands of God, and not in the perfection of our plans. This year, may God be at the fore of all our plans, and in our plannings, may we all give Him the honour due to Him. Amen. Acknowledging God in our plan is not bribing God to do our bidding, but it is submitting to His will.