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Everyone does some kind of planning for himself or someone else in his lifetime. As a teenager you must have made plans ahead of what your job will be like, your attitude towards marriage and raising a family. At your workplace, the boss of your company must have introduced to you one-year or five-year goals and in the end, everyone plans for retirement. At the end of the day, do you seriously reflect upon whether some of these plans do materialise or do they just fizzle off.
The Apostle Paul was an avid planner and made ambitious and definitive plans to visit the Corinthian church which he has founded but yet his plans were aborted as the timing was not appropriate. So, what does The Bible say about all our worldly plans? James 4:13,14 says “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life?” or Jeremiah 10:23 “I know O Lord, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps”. A more pertinent verse is found in Prov 16:9 which says, “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.” In the midst of planning for our lives, many of us easily forget or give sufficient attention to God who shapes our destinies. Inevitably, the best-intentioned man may have difficulty walking with the Lord. How then do we ensure that what we planned is desired by God?
God’s will is not a mystery. “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed” as Proverbs 16:3 advises. God Himself will take care of the details of you plans. There is no perfect will of God in our lives for we live in a sinful world and everyone is imperfect. Prayerfully, make your best Bible-informed plans and then be open to the changes that God may put in your way. Remember, God is our Creator and we are His creation. Therefore, He has the final authority to determine whether our plans fit into His Masterplan.
The patriarch Joseph never planned to be thrown into the well or sold into slavery into Egypt later to be imprisoned for avoiding the adulterous desires of his master’s wife. Neither did he plan to be second-in-control in Egypt. But when the famine came and his brothers were reconciled with him, we understand the perfectness of God’s plan. Joseph declared to his brothers: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20). Let us all commit our plans to God first and work any changes He may direct us along life’s journey. Then we can be assured that our will and God’s will will coincide.
