Fearlessly CourageousDesk of Dennis Piller12 29 22Click for Audit
It's a New Year – “People Plan and God laughs”.
“People plan and God laughs”. I understand what the old Yiddish proverb means but at the same time I believe God wants us to make plans, but ones that are in line with him. Truthfully as a dad I believe Goes laugh and loves to see and hear us laugh. When we are living for him.
So explain to me, since when does life happen as we plan it? It's quite hilarious if you think about it. There are so many things that are out of our control, and yet we act and plan like we are and stand back and act as if we orchestrated the whole thing. It is the price of our ego. The level of self-deceit involved in this is comical except it becomes habitually not funny.
But at the same time, I believe that it’s natural for us to believe that we are planning but when we have a realization of God, as we grow in God, as we give ourselves over to his direction more and more, it becomes clear that God was the actual planner. But the knowledge of God has deteriorated and has been corrupted by many preachers and the perfect knowledge of God has been forgotten. We do not seek his face, his will or his purpose in our life. So, what does it mean to be a man of God?
I heard someone say, that a self-made man cannot be a man of God.
God said that “so is MY word that goes out from my mouth: It will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent. Listen, it says, it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper. Isaiah 55:11 So a man of God will be a man or women OF God, remade in his own image.
A man of God cannot be a man of the world but Of the word!
I understand the context “People plan and God laughs”. but at the same time God wants us to make plans but ones that are in line with him,his word and his purpose in our lives.Proverbs 3:5 “We are to not trust in our own understanding but trust in God”.
James 4: 13-17 "Come now, you who say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
“Surely a man goes about as a shadow! Surely for nothing they are in turmoil; man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather!”PS 36:6 Are you listening? He considers how short life can be (39:5) and how readily we fill it with emptiness. We go around “like a mere phantom” as we “rush about, heaping up wealth” (39:6). This verse is reminiscent of Ecclesiastes, which reflects upon the vanity of life. (Or read proverbs 27:1)Or, Ecclesiastes 6:12 “For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun? 12 In the few days of our meaningless lives, who knows how our days can best be spent? Our lives are like a shadowThis is yet another thought about the plans of men andhow they deny God His proper place.I think it’s clear that that old Yiddish proverb has a basis in scripture
I honestly think people often plan with a certain level of not meaning to oppose God in their innocence. I think it might be how we chuckle to ourselves when our kids tell us what they want to be when they grow up. I think God chuckles sometimes too, but we often end up changing our minds or changing our priorities down the road. Just like our children don’t have much life experience and can’t know what life will throw at them. Their Father and Mother hopefully help guide them into seeking Gods direction.
But I also think we too often plan with pride. I don’t think we think about it that way, but it certainly involves us making a plan because we think we know more than God does. Why do I say that? Because we never asked God. We never waited on His Holy Spirit for direction or incite, let alone permission! We make a plan with the assumption we are correct.
God is omniscient (All knowing) and knows what is in store for everyone. At the same time, I don’t think God is amused or entertained by our hopes and plans that are destined to fail. David, who wrote psalm 2, invites people to consider the source of their help. Of course, God is that source, “but to speak it is one thing, to believe it … is another. The psalmist assures those who pray this psalm that we do not walk alone—the Maker of heaven and earth journeys with us as our helper”
Bottom line: If you want to put God last…tell him about YOUR plans.Tell God what you think is best!Give him your wish list and tell him the things you want changed.And maybe one day you will believe His truth and His will is to prosper you, not to harm you. Jer 29:11 Ask him first for His blessing or to change your mind and go a different direction under his leadership.
"WE RISE" | Live from Carolina Worship Nights | Jonathan Helser & Cageless Birds
