Planning and Purpose

Who is the planner in your house? Is it you, or is it God?

And who is the better planner?

If we believe we are the better planner, we may eventually find ourselves wondering why nothing seems to change in our lives.

We wonder why things remain the same even though...

We believe.

We worship.

We pray.

Yet our faith can still feel off balance. Why?

Because self was never meant to be at the center.

God is.

Who is Your Center?

When our plans, desires, and understanding take priority over His, we begin building our lives around ourselves rather than around Him. But faith was never intended to revolve around our preferences, our comfort, or our control. True faith places God at the center and trusts that His plans are greater than our own.

When God is the planner, we are free to stop striving for control and begin walking in trust. It is there, in surrender to His purposes, that lasting transformation takes place.

Building a life that looks inward rather than upward leads to a lack of wisdom, understanding, and discernment. When our ability to discern becomes clouded, we are less likely to yield to God's plans and purposes. Instead, we begin trying to direct our lives according to our own understanding rather than trusting God as the ultimate architect of our future. Proverbs 19:21 reminds us, "Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand."

A faith centered on self ultimately leaves us feeling shallow and unfulfilled. Many of us have been taught (or have developed the habit of) to read Scripture with the question, "How does this apply to my life?" While that can be a valuable way to engage with God's Word, it can also become problematic if our focus remains fixed on ourselves. We may begin interpreting Scripture through the lens of our feelings, preferences, or desire for comfort, allowing emotion to shape our understanding.

What happens then? We follow what “feels right” while avoiding what confronts us, the sin that God exposes in our hearts. Proverbs 14:12 warns us of the consequences to this approach: "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death." Feelings are not a reliable compass; God's truth is.

Saul’s Plans

When people make plans apart from God, those plans often lead to disappointment. We see this clearly in the story of Saul, Israel's first king. In 1 Samuel 8:5, the people demanded a king to judge them and to represent them like the surrounding nations. Saul began his reign with courage and promise, leading Israel to victory over the Ammonites at Jabesh-Gilead (1 Samuel 11). Yet pride, disobedience and self-reliance soon took root.

As Israel prepared to face the Philistines, Saul grew impatient. Rather than waiting for Samuel to arrive and offer sacrifices to the Lord as commanded, Saul took matters into his own hands and offered the burnt offering himself (1 Samuel 13). When Samuel arrived, he rebuked Saul, saying, "You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the Lord your God, with which he commanded you. For then the Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue" (1 Samuel 13:13-14).

Saul's pattern of disobedience continued when Israel confronted the Amalekites. Instead of fully obeying God's instructions, Saul followed his own judgment and listened to the voices of the people around him. As a result, he was rejected as king (1 Samuel 15:23).

Saul's life serves as a warning for us. When we choose our own plans over God's Word or allow the opinions of others to drown out His voice then we risk missing His direction, His plans, and His purpose for our lives.

David offers us a different example. In Psalm 57:2 he declares, "I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills His purpose for me." David understood that God's purposes are not obstacles to our fulfillment; they are the very path to it.

As Samuel concluded his ministry, he left the people with a challenge that still speaks to us today: "Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you" (1 Samuel 12:24).

When we surrender our plans and trust God's purposes, we discover that His ways are higher, His wisdom is greater, and His plans accomplish far more than anything we could design for ourselves. Looking upward to Him enables us to see clearly and walk confidently in the purpose He has prepared for us.

In Christ's love,

Tracey