Proverbs 19:21

We humans keep brainstorming options and plans,
but God's purpose prevails.

This verse got passed onto me in an email recently and it’s been on mind ever since. Sometimes I feel like God has entrusted all of this stuff to me and it’s therefore my responsibility to plan out and watch over everything. And although there is some truth in that, Proverbs 19:21 opened my eyes to show me that regardless of what we scheme up and create, none of it will have any meaning unless it is a part of God’s plan. I know I get caught quite frequently brainstorming, and to be honest, that’s one of my favorite things about me. But how often do I sit back and wonder how my plans are tied into God’s plans? I think the easy answer for me sometimes is to just assume that God has this grand master plan and if it’s all laid out already, then it really doesn’t matter what I do because it’s all going to work out regardless. And that therefore leads to me forgetting to talk to God about stuff. I go along scheming and planning and every now and then, I look back and hope to see that what I’ve done is pleasing to God.

But what if I stopped looking back at what I’ve done, and rather looked ahead. And before the brainstorming begins, before my plans begin to fall together, I look to Jesus and see what He has to say about things.

As some of you know, my thesis project has been in the works for the past semester. And it seems like each day something new pops up and surprises me. And I am so quick to jump at grand ideas and projects, simply because that’s how I’ve always done things. And at first, when there was only one option presented to me, I went full steam at it. Because I assumed that this awesome thing that was in front of me must be a part of God’s plan. But as the weeks go by, more and more options continue to arise and now I’m left wondering which one is the one that God wants me to pursue. I think God has been trying to teach me to slow down, and come and get advice from Him first.

Most of my life has fallen together so easily that it’s hard not to look back on it and think that God was leading everything. And it’s not just that things have been easy, but that things have always been planned out for me. And all of the sudden, I’m left with trying to make those decisions, and it’s harder than I thought.

At what point do we know when God is giving us the go-ahead on life? When do we know that we’re on board with God?

And maybe we’re not always meant to be on board with God. Maybe those times when we stray, both accidentally and on purpose, are the times when things become clearer. When we start to understand what God has been saying.

Life would be pretty nice if everything was planned out for us and all of those decisions were already taken care of. But life would also be pretty boring. Our God is one who entrusts us to take the next move. He’s not sitting in the backseat whispering every few seconds in our ear which turn to take next. But he is there. And he’s waiting for us to turn to Him to get directions. He’s not going to get mad though if we turn down the wrong road and start heading in a different direction. He’ll just wait patiently in the back until we’re ready to get back on route. And regardless of where we go or how far away we stray, he always knows how to get back. We’re not in this alone. But we need to talk to him about stuff. We can only go so far on our own.