Wisdom From the Proverbsናሙና

Proverbs 16

God loves to partner with you. He delights to hear about your thoughts, your plans, your desires. He wants to be involved in all you do. If we're wise, we'll most certainly want Him involved in all we do too.

Proverbs 16:3 says, 'Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and He will establish your plans.'

I'm very grateful that this doesn't mean whatever plans I make, he will ensure happens. I think that would be a disaster. It would be like a parent ensuring their child does whatever their child wants. This is not what we're to expect from God.

So what does it mean to commit whatever you do to God?

Remember that underpinning statement running throughout the entire of Proverbs -- 'Fear the LORD.' We acknowledge that God is God and having chosen to live our lives for Him, that includes our plans. Things like relationships, our sexuality, our career, our place to live, the conversations that should/shouldn't be had, our ethics, worldview, and the entirety of our life. It's all His, and it's our job to renew our thinking in line with His will and His desires. To commit to Him is to surrender ourselves. Once your life is committed to Him, which isn't just a gesture but an action, your plans will become the plans of God. The things we want to do in life will all be to honour God. Practically, you may have to truly evaluate why you're wanting to do something before you do it. Is it for God or yourself?

It's not black and white. Sometimes God will tell you where to go and what to do; other times, with your plans committed to Him, He'll open or close the door as you are going. He did this with Paul. Sometimes He told Paul where to go and what to do; other times, we just see that the Spirit stopped him from going somewhere. Because part of committing our plans to God is allowing Him to make the final edits -- maybe a timing edit, a location edit, or an understanding edit. Maybe even a heart edit.

Plans made out of anger, impulsiveness, frustration, hurt, confusion, and a sense that you might miss out are often plans that don't go very well. Unless God is telling you to get a move on, wait. Waiting in hurt, frustration, and anger feels like the worst thing you can go through. It's also the very thing God wants to use to transform your heart and life before He establishes your next steps. I get what it's like to wait in these feelings, and the last thing you care about is being transformed into a better person. You just want out. Jesus wanted out. 'If it's possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not my will but Yours be done.' But above wanting out, He committed to the LORD in whatever came. This is the fear of the LORD. This is wisdom.

What decision do you need to make today in light of what you've just read?