What does it mean to commit your plans to God? Does it simply mean just tell God what you plan in prayer and, of course, making sure your plan is in accordance with His will?<\/p>\n
Since God directs our steps, then whatever good we do benefits the whole church. What does that mean exactly? Does that mean, yes, I have free will and can choose whatever job I want, but if God plans something different for me, like to work in Antarctica, I will end up working in Antarctica?<\/p>\n
If a woman was raped and became pregnant, does that mean God intentionally wanted that baby to be born and put on earth? Was that baby preordained to being born, or was it just luck that the baby was born? But since it is born, it will become a part of God’s plan?<\/p>\n\t
“Commit your works to the LORD, and your thoughts will be established<\/em>” (Proverbs 16:3).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
If I figured out the correct verse that you had in mind, what is being said is that if we trust God to do things His way, then we won’t be always in an emotional upheaval trying to decide what we should do in various situations. It is a corollary to “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD and depart from evil. It will be health to your flesh, and strength to your bones<\/em>” (Proverbs 3:5-8). We don’t always know the best way to handle life, but when we trust God’s guidance and teaching, then life becomes so much better. “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him<\/em>” (Colossians 3:17).<\/p>\n
“The preparations of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD<\/em>” (Proverbs 16:1).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
We each have our desires for what we would like to do, but we have to remember that we ultimately answer for our choices to God. “Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth; walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes; but know that for all these God will bring you into judgment<\/em>” (Ecclesiastes 11:9).<\/p>\n
“A man’s heart plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps<\/em>” (Proverbs 16:9).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
We also need to remember that we don’t have ultimate control over our lives. We plan what we would like to do, but in the end, God controls where we end up going. Therefore, we ought to consider and plan our lives around God’s directions. “O LORD, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps<\/em>” (Jeremiah 10:23). I wouldn’t say things are so drastic as working in Antarctica, but I have seen times in my life where I wanted to go one direction and nothing worked out but when going to plan D, suddenly everything goes smoothly; and in the end that direction turned out to be the best choice anyway.<\/p>\n
I was talking to a friend this afternoon and he mentioned a good point. So many people pick places to move to thinking about the benefits to themselves, but how many people pick places to live in regards to how productive they can be in serving God?<\/p>\n
“The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD<\/em>” (Proverbs 16:33).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Sometimes it seems that events happen randomly. We might even make decisions randomly. But God is able to use all decisions, both good and bad, to further His cause. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose<\/em>” (Romans 8:28). This doesn’t necessarily mean that God causes tragedies to happen in a person’s life, but there can be times when God allows such to happen — such as what happened to Job. Job wasn’t even made aware of why these things happened to him, but he did grow stronger than he was before by going through those hardships.<\/p>\n
Even in the case of personal violation, such as rape, God can turn such tragedies into something that benefits His cause and His people.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: What does it mean to commit your plans to God? Does it simply mean just tell God what you plan in prayer and, of course, making sure your plan is in accordance with His will? Since God directs our steps, then whatever good we do benefits the whole church. What does that mean exactly?…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[763,1328],"class_list":["post-35611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-decisions","tag-plans"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":16943,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-it-mean-when-people-say-gods-will-be-done-or-lord-willing\/","url_meta":{"origin":35611,"position":0},"title":"What does it mean when people say “God’s will be done” or “Lord willing?”","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 3, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What does it mean when people say \"God's will be done\" or \"Lord willing?\" For example, some may say a prayer to God about getting a particular job or being accepted into a university, but then they also say something similar to \"if it's God's will.\" What do they\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11649,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-regeneration-and-being-born-again-mean-the-same-thing\/","url_meta":{"origin":35611,"position":1},"title":"Does regeneration and being born again mean the same thing?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 20, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Does regeneration and being born again mean the same thing? Answer: \"But when the kindness of God our Savior and his love toward mankind appeared, not by works of righteousness, which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":34291,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-we-be-forgiven-if-we-plan-to-have-sex-before-we-marry\/","url_meta":{"origin":35611,"position":2},"title":"Can we be forgiven if we plan to have sex before we marry?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 4, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My girlfriend and I have been together for eight months now and have been discussing having sex. We do plan on getting married because we are both loyal, honest and love each other very dearly. However, we both have very strong religious backgrounds and are not sure if we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":26694,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-god-is-sovereign-why-does-he-express-sorrow-when-men-are-bad-if-god-knows-of-everything-why-did-he-repent\/","url_meta":{"origin":35611,"position":3},"title":"If God is sovereign, why does He express sorrow when men are bad? If God knows of everything, why did He repent?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 13, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If God is sovereign, why does He express sorrow when men are bad? If God knows of everything, why did He repent in Genesis 6:5-7 and Exodus 32:12? Answer: People have a hard time dealing with the infinite. An age-old puzzle is \"If God is so powerful, can He\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":64224,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-delight-yourself-in-the-lord-mean\/","url_meta":{"origin":35611,"position":4},"title":"What does “delight yourself in the Lord” mean?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 22, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Good evening, I appreciate you! I have a question for you if you don't mind. Psalm 37:4 says to \"delight yourself in the Lord.\" Is that the same as \"rejoicing in the Lord\" or are they different? Thanks. Answer: \"Do not fret because of evildoers, be not envious toward\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15929,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-the-unsearchable-riches-of-god-mean\/","url_meta":{"origin":35611,"position":5},"title":"What does “the unsearchable riches of God” mean?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 27, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: There is a phrase used that I've heard which I am not sure I understand. The unsearchable riches of God. Why do people say, \"unsearchable riches?\" By reading and study of the Bible, we can learn what God wants and learn what Jesus did, said, and taught. But \"unsearchable\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35611\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}