by John Mehl on January 08, 2024
I’m a planner. I'm a goal-setter. Not so much of a "New Year's Resolution" type, but I am the type of person who is certainly driven by operationalizing vision!
It has become a pattern in my life to set time to take stock of what has happened; how I got wherever I find myself, my family, my team, etc. I enjoy grabbing the calendar at the end of the year and taking inventory, month by month, of all that has happened.
Then I love taking that and trying to look forward; trying to see what known aspects of the next season or new year might be foreseeable and plannable.
And then I run into verses like this:
James 4:13-16 – “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit” – yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring.”
Proverbs 19:21 – “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.”
Proverbs 16:9 – “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”
Uh-oh, God. Am I not supposed to make plans? Or maybe I am not supposed to presume plans?
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Well, I have found that the answer is both yes and no. It is never planning in and of itself that is corrected by the Lord. Conversely, Proverbs 16:3, just a few verses before the above reference, says, “Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.” What is biblically corrected is the presumption of plans, which is planning that does not pursue a surpassing and overarching alignment with the will of God, as well as an open-palmed willingness for our plans to be corrected, adjusted, or changed. If I can strive to make my plans, cover the whole process and pursuit in prayer and asking for divine discernment, and then live humbly and with adaptability, then I believe I can walk this balance as guided by the Holy Spirit.
The more that I personally immerse myself in a life of prayer and allow God’s Word to guide each step of my journey, the more readily I will be responding to the leadings and the impressions of the heart of the Lord.
This past weekend at Timberline Windsor we sought a foundation for this new year where the people of God would "align our hearts & steel our courage." Some of what we are going to encounter in this next year can be foreseen, planned for, and pursued. Some of what we are going to encounter in this next year will come out of nowhere and will need to be received with flexibility and adaptability. And while some of us default to a posture of "whatever happens, happens," others find strength in being able to plan at least part of our posture.
With my aforementioned planning posture, it won’t be surprising that I am compelled by the invitation to prepare in advance. Whether I can see what today or any point in the future may hold, I find the Bible’s preparatory remarks very helpful. When I read something like, "Prepare for rejection and even suffering," or "Count the cost of discipleship," I find that this level of thinking sets me up in a stronger, more fortified posture for whatever my days hold. So when it gets harder to give generously, serve sacrificially, or even to love and pray for my enemies, it is at the very least less shocking and less counterintuitive to me because of the "planning" the Spirit has already invited me into.
And the beauty of the family of God is that I also find that I can learn an awful lot from those that are postured differently than I am. Planning and projecting is not godly in and of itself, and the people around me who tend to be more of the "whatever happens, happens" orientation, there is a lot about their faith and worldview that I can (and need to) learn from. No one person has a corner on the godly worldview perspective. This reminds me that, no matter the reflective, planning posture I might take, a healthy amount of listening and learning will undoubtedly be a part of how the Lord is trying to guide me.
Whether you are naturally a planner like me or take more of an open, spontaneous posture toward the present and the future, I would invite you to take some time to consider the below questions. Maybe see whether there is something new, important, or even freeing that the Spirit wants to do in you and through you:
- Am I more of a planner or more spontaneous when it comes to developments of my present and future? (And do I think one is more "right" than the other?)
- Is there someone around me who sees these kinds of things differently than I do? Am I open to a conversation with them about this?
- How immersed in prayer and in alignment with God’s Word am I? How immersed do I want to be in this next season?
