Commit Your Actions to the Lord | A SOAP devotional, By Pastor Jamie

Read Proverbs 16 Proverbs 16 NLT - We can make our own plans, but the LORD - Bible Gateway   Proverbs 16:1, 3, 9- We can make our own plans, but the Lord gives the right answer. Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed. We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.

Proverbs are wise sayings that are generally, but not always true. In another piece of Wisdom literature, the Book of Job, Job's friends, for instance, used common wise sayings to argue with him about the suffering he experienced, but Job kept saying his situation was an exception to the general way things worked out for people. Something that is true 98% of time is not true 2% of the time, which, on occasion, makes the wise statements in Proverbs challenging and confusing. Sometimes they are true over the long haul of life, yet they don't appear to be true in the short run. In general, it is best to seek God as we make our plans trusting God will show up with better answers than we'll come up with on our own and believing success is more likely when we commit our plans to God.

One of the points of a Proverb, I believe, is to make us think and wonder and be challenged. Seeking God's counsel before we make a decision is always the right call. There are times when for all intents and purposes what we really do is tell God our plans and ask Him to bless them, which puts the cart before the horse. Have you ever committed your actions to the Lord, but your plans didn't succeed? I have. Does that mean the Proverb is wrong? No, it means maybe the success needed to be measured in a way I couldn't yet see. Maybe what looked and felt like a complete failure to me was really preparation and learning for what God had in store for me next. Maybe having only one person show up to an event when I expected and prepared for 35 wasn't a failure, since it turns out this one person happens to be the next leader of a new ministry that is going to reach far more than 35 folks with Jesus' message of new life. It's our job to seek God before we make plans, discern God's presence in the plans as they come to us, ask for the strength and wisdom to follow through well, and keep cooperating with God along the way, because He may want to change our plans (or change us in some significant ways!) God may have something better in mind for us than we can imagine on our own! Our planning and strategizing are never a substitute for prayer, and prayer doesn't replace planning and strategizing.

Dear God, thank You for the privilege of getting to live with, work with, and enjoy You every day! Be in our planning for the future. Don't let us settle for a plan we can achieve in our own power but help us to dream visions and make plans that we won't be able to accomplish without You. Show up in ways that surprise and delight us! Help us learn how to walk more closely with You. You are a great God, and we are Your people. Amen.

"Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen." (Ephesians 3:20-21),   Pastor Jamie