How often have you found yourself making plans without first submitting those plans to God? Many times, myself included, we just set out to achieve certain things but never ask God what he thinks about our plans. The result is that we end up striving and toiling to do things that don’t end up working out the way we wanted. If, however, we submitted those plans to God beforehand we may have learned that our timing was off or we needed to take a different course of action.
“Man makes plans . . . and God laughs.”
We are quick to proclaim that we have surrendered our lives to Christ. But have we? Have we truly committed our ways, plans, ideas and aspirations to Him? David encouraged us to commit our ways to God and trust in Him. What does this look like? It means that when we have great ideas or a desire to take on new projects, we ask God to guide us and direct our path. Ask God to focus our attention and shape our ideas to match His plan. When we acknowledge God at the onset of our planning He will direct and guide us.
The desires for success and to accomplish great things come from God. It is God who gives us the power and creativity to create wealth. (Deuteronomy 8:17). But when we fail to seek God firs,t we can end up taking a more challenged path to get to our goal than the straight path God would have directed us to.
Seeking God first to find out what His desires for our lives, and how those plans align with His, will spare us a lot of turmoil and poor planning. I challenge you to make asking God for His direction a top priority in your planning process. Remember, although you make plans in your heart, it is God that directs your steps to see those plans to fruition. (Proverbs 16:9).