The Importance Of Planning

Commit your works to the Lord and your plans will be established.
–Proverbs 16:3

We do not arrive anywhere by accident. It takes a plan to get to where we are going. By doing nothing, we tend to drift away from where God wants to take us in our finances, our work, our relationships, and our spiritual life.

King Solomon certainly understood the importance of having a plan. God had planted in his life the dream of building a magnificent place of worship for God. But Solomon did not just sit back like so many Christians today and passively say, “If God wants this to happen, He will do it in His way and His time.” Solomon developed a plan and executed the plan to build that temple.

In the book of Proverbs, we find verse after verse about the importance of planning:

• “Without consultation, plans are frustrated, but with many counselors they succeed” (15:22).
• “The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord” (16:1).
• “Commit your works to the Lord and your plans will be established” (16:3).
• “The plans of the diligent lead surely to advantage, but everyone who is hasty comes surely to poverty” (21:5).

We all need a dream in life, but a dream is not enough. We need a plan that will take us from where we are to where we need to be to realize that dream in life. Most Christians I talk to do not have a dream, much less a plan to help them reach that dream. Why is that?

Among Christians, there are four excuses people have for not developing a plan for their lives. Excuse number one is: “What if I fail?” We do not want to be embarrassed in front of other people if we set a goal and then fail in that plan.

Second, some people say, “I have plenty of time; there is no hurry” or “I do not have enough time; there is no use.” Both views of time are erroneous. The fact is, God has given each of us just the right amount of time we need to fulfill His plan for our lives.

A third objection is, “Doesn’t the Bible say we shouldn’t make plans?” There is nothing wrong with making plans, but God says we ought to make plans within the boundaries of His will. Proverbs 19:21 says, “Many plans are in a man’s heart, but the counsel of the Lord will stand.”

The final excuse is, “I do not know how to make a plan.” If you want to know where God wants you to go in life and how to get there, you need to have a clear purpose. God’s dream for your life is the intersection of your passion and your unique giftedness.

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Today’s devotion is excerpted from “If You Don’t Know Where You’re Going You’ll End Up Somewhere Else” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2013.

Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright © 1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.