Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails
Proverbs 19:21
Rephrased:
Plenteous are the devices of a person’s appetite and own will
And….
Another version says Many are the plans in a man’s mind
This lets us know that the mind and the heart are synonymous. It is the will. The emotion. The soulish realm. It is "mans" agenda before God intervenes.
This alone is a statement that requires caution to say the least.
It is our human nature to have desires, wants, needs, agendas, goals, and plans for our future. Some of the plans we have are strategic, organized, well thought out and for some of us they are spontaneous in nature. But the idea is we all have agenda’s and plans concerning our lives. The question then becomes, “what is wrong with this?” Why can’t I have goals? Why can’t I have dreams? Why can’t I pursue after what I want? I’d find it very difficult to contend, dispute or argue with you because I too have plans and goals for my own life. And I want to achieve them!
But while I was in Bible Study last night a scripture was read that concerned me.
James: 4:3 “You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.”
The motive behind what I want is in question here. But why? What’s wrong with what I want?
The intent. God looks at the intent of our plans and the motive behind what our agenda is and He dissects its truth. We don’t fully know why we desire what we desire but He does. And He weighs our ambitions and determines that His purpose is far greater than our plans. Because of some of our motives.
The Bible says that our hearts deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Jeremiah 17:9
This speaks to the cunning and divisive measures we will take to fulfill our desires. The lengths we will go to do what we planned. The measures we will take that's not always integral because we want what we want so badly. Was it not in the garden? Was it not found in Cain? Was it not seen at the tower of babel?
Our desires can be intrusive and detrimental to our purpose which is ultimately God’s purpose in us.
Only the One that created it can know it. And He judges the matter. And rescues us from ourselves by placing His purpose in us before we were even born.
Jeremiah 1:5 “Before you were born I knew you, set you apart, and appointed you. God placed purpose in us before we became “us”.
The hard thing is trusting that His purpose is greater than our plan. Because our “plans” we know. But His purpose He knows.
We want to KNOW. And it is a struggle to believe that anyone other than ourselves could have something greater for us than what we plan.
But if you believe His Word. You must learn to rest in it….
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future 29:11
Can you trust His plan.. Can you trust His purpose (telos meaning ultimate goal the final cause of it all)? Can you trust that God knows your ending and Him interceding and intercepting your plans is for your good? Can you trust that the idea that you have. The business plan that you drew. The manuscript that you created….It’s delayed for a reason. It may even be denied because God has better?
Testimony:
I had a fiction novel that was going to be based on some truths of my life but the plan was to label it fiction anyway because the details were not becoming to who I knew I was becoming. But I wanted to write it anyway. I wanted to be the next Terry McMillan. I knew I had the ability. I knew my writing was good enough. One day, my USB stopped working. And I thought ok well I have it on my pc so I’ll just check it out when I get to work. My PC caught a virus and the I.T. person said don’t worry I will have everything transferred over. You shouldn’t lose anything. But when he finished…it was gone. I was devastated! This was my meal ticket! I was angry. For years I couldn’t write anything else. I thought I had writers block. No.. I didn’t. God blocked my writing! And He allowed me to mature to see that what I wanted to write had no purpose in my future. When I accepted that “Get Ya Life” was birthed. It took a little over a week to complete a whole book! Because it was God’s purpose and I accepted it! And it will prosper all over the world because it was His plan for my life.
I choose God’s purpose over my plans.
I challenge you to do the same.
