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. Jeremiah 29:11

I know that for many in our church family this verse and the entire passage in which it is found is an all-time favorite. How comforting and freeing it is to know that we rest in the loving hands of God and that his intentions towards us are good. As Pastor Bob has often said, “He holds the pencil.” History really is “His Story” whether we are talking about conditions in the Middle East or my to-do list for the next week.

However, sometimes earnest Spirit-led believers face a kind of ‘planning paralysis.’ The thinking runs something like this: We know that God sovereignly knows everything that will happen for He is “working out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will” (Ephesians 1:11). Since God already holds the plan and I am walking in moment by moment dependence on Him, what possible role could my puny plan serve in the bigger picture of His overall purposes? Perhaps I should not plan at all. After all, it really doesn’t matter what I do because in the end God’s will will

be done. Often the result of this kind of thinking is a kind of shrinking back, passivity or disengagement in active living. We stand on the threshold of a major decision or an opportunity that overwhelms our limited resources and we are at a loss to determine exactly what we should do. We don’t want to superimpose our will over God’s! In moments like these, sometimes indecision becomes our decision and regardless of the outcome we say, “Well, God’s will be done, it will be anyway.”

Proverbs 16 provides a helpful framework to help balance our understanding of God’s plan and our plan(s). Not only do these wise sayings assume human planning as a normal part of life in God’s world, they actually indicate that God is already at work through our planning.

Proverbs 16:1 To a man belong the plans of the heart, but from the LORD comes the reply of the tongue. 

Proverbs 16:3-4 Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and your plans will be established; the LORD works out everything for his own ends. 

Proverbs 6:9 In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps. 

To Spirit-led followers of Jesus, making plans can be an expression of trust and dependence on Him. We dream big, connect with “the desires of our heart” (Psalm 37:4), hold our ‘small p-plan’ loosely and then move ahead confident that as we journey with God, His ‘big P-Plan’ will emerge. Just like our prayers, our plans do make a real difference. God takes our active engagement and molds it into his overall purpose.

It has often been said, “You can only steer a moving ship.” So take a step! It is comforting to know that our wise and powerful Father is already at work through the humble plans of His children.

*A special thanks to Sam Harbin for providing some key observations and sentence structure in this devotional.