I am a planner! To do Lists are my JAM! I feel so accomplished when I can cross something off my list, it helps me feel good about myself! Do you ever feel like that too? I am in a seasons of life where I am rebuilding and reestablishing my relationship with the Holy Spirit. I realize I have been in my own way in every single area of my life. So this includes submitting all of my plans to God. The problems is, I thought I was, but I really wasn't. One day the word "plan" popped into my mind, mostly because at the time I wrote this it was summer time and my schedule was freed up and I was being guided by the Holy Spirit to make out a meal plan for my family before I went grocery shopping for the week. I was thinking about that word "plan" and let Holy Spirit take me on a deep dive. Funny thing? I couldn't find anyting in the KJV about plan but the NIV version brought me to the story of the Tower of Babel and
I was like
Me: "Oh shoot, this about about to be a word of conviction isn't it Holy Spirit."
Holy Spirit: YUP, better believe it lol
So if you don't know the story. After God flooded and reset the land, He made a covenant with Noah and his son He would never again wipe the earth clean with floods. This can be found in Genesis chapter 9. For a little history, the descendants of Adam and Eve were evil and God set to destroy them, but He chose Noah and instructed him to build an ark big enough to hold animals and his family. This was no easy task, but Noah was obedient and he and his family were saved. And then some of Noah's descendants decided they were going to build a tower, they had "a plan!" They decided they were going to take things into their own hands, save themselves, and it looked good, sounded good, they were all working together and on one accord BUT, there was one problem. They were in direct disobedience to God. He had literally given them a directive in Genesis 9 to scatter and here they were thinking they knew better than God to settle and remain in the same place. (Ahem, sound familiar?). It would be so easy to judge these individuals who single handedly caused us to this very day to be a people of different language, but I realize how close to this I am in present day when I try to tell God my plans or write them out without consulting Him first. So many instances in the Bible too where man consulted their own plans.
Saul had many plans that were rooted in his jealously of David that eventually led to his fall, which is outlined in 1 Samuel. David himself had a plan to find out who Bathsheeba, another man's wife, was and it lead him to destruction of both himself and his family. Proverbs 16 verse 1(AMP) says the plans and reflections of the heart belong to man, but the wise answer of the tongue is from the Lord. It further goes to say "All the ways of a man are clean and innocent in his own eyes [and he may see nothing wrong with his actions but the Lord weighs and examines the motives and intents of the heart and knows the truth]. The last part in verse 3 is what I love the most because then the proverb gives you strategy and God's plan.
Commit your works to the Lord [submit and trust them to Him]And your plans will succeed [if you respond to His will and guidance.]
So the truth is you can't make any plans without committing to consulting with God first. The popular scripture often quoted Jeremiah 29:11 says in the NIV version.
"For I know the plans I have for you" declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
Many don't continue to the next verse that says:
THEN you will call on me and come and pray to me and I will listen to you.
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Happy Seeking friends!
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