Proverbs 19:21 – “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails”
This verse should be stamped on my forehead because I am a planner. I am not a planner in that I have life mapped out completely for the next five years. I most certainly do not. My least favorite question in an interview is, “Where do you hope to be in five years?” When I say I have a plan, I mean moving forward without talking to God about it first or, even worse, I telling Him what my plan is and ignoring His. I blindly move forward with my hands out hoping to hit the expectation.
Sometimes those plans do not play out the way that I expected them to and I find myself saying, “God, why is this happening? It was not supposed to happen like this! I was supposed to know what to do with the rest of my life by now. I was supposed to be in a semi-successful relationship by now – I am not praying for miracles, Lord, I am telling you my plan. I should have checked 5 things off my bucket list by now.” Whether or not we admit it, we have all had these conversations with God before.
However, Proverbs 19:21 says, “Hey [insert your name], I am God and I have a plan for you. A plan even bigger and even better than you can imagine. So go ahead and loosen that grip you have on those plans. It is okay. I have got this.”
This gives my inner control freak has a slight panic. “But God,” I argue, “I can’t loosen my grip. I am in too deep and I obviously know what is best for me.” God gently and persistently says to me, “No, MacKenzie. I know what is best for you. Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart (Jeremiah 1:5). Every decision you make is because I wanted you to make it. It is all part of my grand design for your life. You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand (John 13:7).”
There is nothing wrong with making plans. There is nothing wrong with having goals. But God’s plan for your life is going to prevail. Maybe a door is shut before you. Maybe now is not your time. But wait patiently, because God has a plan and he won’t let you fail. So go ahead and try to loosen your grip. I am working on loosening mine too.
*Disclaimer: I used verses here that some may feel are taken out of context. I believe God still speaks those words to us even if that not the intended purpose of the verse in context. The goal was to point out that God’s promises for our life are throughout the Bible.