J.M. Diener
Every year God gives me a verse that superscribes what the year will bring. This year, he led me to Proverbs 16:9, where it says, “A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord determines his steps” (HCSB). I’ve always loved this verse, because it beautifully describes the relationship between human responsibility and God’s sovereignty in everyday life. As God’s image on earth, we are called to plan and prepare, but we are also to submit to our gracious Ruler, as he knows best.
What this means for me is as follows. At the beginning of each year, we spend time prayerfully thinking over the coming twelve months and setting plans and goals for them. These are carefully noted and catalogued, along with clear metrics to determine their completion. Then, as is instructed in Proverbs 16:3, we commit the plans to the Lord and do our best to work towards them. If they come to pass, fine. If not, we should not be upset, for God ordered these steps. We submit to him.
That being said, without something to aim for, there are no steps to be ordered. One of my dear teachers in undergrad, Heinz Weber, was fond of saying, “God cannot steer a standing ship.” So, we must have these goals, whether we achieve them or not. They are much like ideals, which Carl Schurz points out are like stars: we may never reach them, but like the mariners of old we can chart our course by them. Thus, even if we don’t reach our goals, at least we have them to move towards. These can be as simple as reading through the whole Bible in 365 days or as complex as building a brand new desktop application from scratch. They can be as small as giving a tenth of your income to God or as great as seeing a dear friend surrender to Christ. Regardless, without the target and the intent to reach it, we cannot arrive. Thus, we make our plans and commit them to God, allowing him to guide our steps, rejoicing with each successfully completed goal and not worrying about that which was not accomplished. And in all of this we give thanks for God’s good, gracious, and guiding hand as he allows us to have causality in this world as his image on earth.
What are some goals you’ve set for yourself this year? How are you going about aiming towards them? Have you committed them to the Lord yet? Come, let us submit to him together so he makes us successful.