Walking with the Wise #230: Plans & Purposes

“The plans of the heart belong to man,

but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD.”
—Proverbs 16:1

We all have plans that we want to see fulfilled. Call them what you will—goals, dreams, aspirations, or ambitions, but we have things that we want to do or accomplish in our lives. Some of our goals are good while others are sinful. Ambition is good if it is understood as us doing our best, but it is bad when it’s to see ourselves as better than those around us.

While we may lay out any plans we want, it is God who determines whether or not they are fulfilled. Now, before we continue on, we must stop and get our bearings. Does God want us to have something sinful? Of course not! But if we persist in pursuing something apart from Him, He will sometimes allow us to have it, so that we might truly experience evil and all of its horrors and then see His goodness and repent.

No matter what our plans may be, it is God who directs us for His sovereign purposes. For some, this may be disturbing—does God not give us a measure of free will? Are we fleshly automatons who only do that which we are commanded? We do have a measure of free will as far as we live our daily lives, but God will accomplish His purposes despite the choices and machinations of man. Man may plan all he wants, but it is God who brings His purposes to pass.

Our goal should be to lay everything that we do or want at the feet of Jesus—because He is the one before whom we live our lives and He is the only one who can fulfill them. May the Lord our God, who is our life, enable us to truly lay all things at His feet and may He bring to pass in our lives that which will bring His name great glory. Amen.