Successful Planning

“Plans are established by seeking advice;
    so if you wage war, obtain guidance” (Proverbs 20:18).

Have you made any plans lately? If so, perhaps they relate to your family, friends, jobs, homes, ministries, health, and finances—all important to most of us.

Planning can actually be fun and at the same time stressful. It forces us to think about all that we really want or need in a particular area of our lives. It moves us to be specific about the steps we need to take to reach our desired outcomes and requires our time and effort to develop.

Thankfully, Proverbs 20:18 provides us with a means to successful planning: advice. Counsel or guidance is an important part of wisdom in planning. Sources of direction may come through a parent, close friend, church leader, therapist, or another person of wisdom. Hence, our source should be one of sufficient trustworthiness and reliance.

In any case, when developing our plans, the first mode of counsel should be communication with God through prayer and the Bible. We should faithfully ask the Lord for wisdom with biblical reference of confirmation. Sometimes, in providing those, He may even highlight or send a person to provide insight on the very thing for which we are praying.

In any event, seeking the Lord’s perspective on any plans we make, is the chief reliable way toward a successful outcome. The Bible gives us some helpful verses concerning our plans:

“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans” (Proverbs 16:3). The Hebrew word for commit here is galal which means to roll or trust. Therefore we should roll onto, dedicate, or devote our plans to God. Kuwn is the Hebrew word for establish, meaning, set up or erect, which indicates he will put into place those plans for us.

“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it” (Luke 14:28)? This is a very important verse. Sometimes, in our excitement and impatience, we are tempted to rush our plans toward action.

At times we just want our own way and immediately. However, this attitude can cause a lot of wasted time and frustration as we reap the mistakes of not thinking thoroughly through our plans and determining the price required to finish them.

Yet in submitting our plans to the Lord, even when we aren’t sure how or when all will work out after we’ve prayed, researched, written our ideas, and sought advice, we can rest in the Apostle Paul’s message: “… whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).

As such, our plans should bring God glory—that is, doxa in the Greek language—honor, splendor, and majesty.

Moreover, though they may appear to be our plans, “Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labor in vain. Unless the Lord watches over the city, the guards stand watch in vain” (Psalm 127:1). So, we humble ourselves, consult the Lord in all things, and wait on Him as He instructs us on how to proceed.

May God help us all to be faithful in this endeavor.