Are Your Plans Getting in God’s Way?

What leads people to start things that are never finished?

[Jesus said,] “If you were going to build a tower, wouldn’t you first sit down and calculate the cost, to be sure you had the resources to complete it? Otherwise, you might finish the foundation but not have enough to continue. Others would see your failure and laugh at you.” — Luke 14:28–29 The Discussion Bible

Most people are sure they need a plan. Businesses need budgets, goals, schedules, and strategies. Writers need deadlines. Builders need blueprints. Travelers need maps. Families need some idea of where the money will come from and where it needs to go.

Jesus used planning as an illustration of wisdom. Diligent planning leads to profit (Proverbs 21:5). So there’s nothing unspiritual about planning. In fact, failing to plan might simply be poor stewardship. Yet history is littered with failed plans. Businesses go bankrupt after producing elaborate projections. People lose fortunes after carefully studying investments. Careers collapse even though someone followed a carefully constructed five-year plan.

The problem isn’t necessarily that they failed to plan. Maybe the plan couldn’t see what was coming.

Plans Can’t See Tomorrow

We plan with incomplete information. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow. We don’t know which opportunity will appear, which door will close, which person we’ll meet or which unexpected difficulty will change everything.

You don’t know what tomorrow will bring. Will you even be alive? Your life is as certain as the clouds, present now but maybe not tomorrow. — James 4:14

James wasn’t condemning business. The people he addressed were business people saying they would travel to a city, spend a year there, conduct business, and make money. Their mistake was having a business plan that assumed they were in control of their future. They needed a better perspective.

What you ought to say is this: “Whatever the Lord wants—that’s what I live to do each day.” — James 4:15

Follow, Don’t Just Forecast.

Since childhood, as I came to know the Lord, I’ve lived somewhat differently. I may have a general sense of direction. I may know what I would like to accomplish. But every day remains subject to redirection according to what I believe would be most pleasing to him. I’ve become increasingly focused, not on everything I might accomplish someday, but on one much simpler question: What needs to happen right now?

That approach might sound irresponsible to those who believe success requires carefully mapping every mile of the journey. Such belief must change as soon as they see the value of following God, who knows the future they can’t see.

Watch for the Next Step

A well-known Bible verse is usually translated something like this: “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps” (Proverbs 16:9 NIV). Since no two cultures and languages have a word-for-word match, all translations require interpretation. In this case, an important detail was missed. In the Hebrew text, the word “steps” is singular in form—“his step.”

Why was this detail missed in most translation? Perhaps because we naturally want to see the whole journey when God is more interested in showing us what to do next. That is why I rendered Proverbs 16:9 this way in The Discussion Bible: “People want to map their entire journey, but God shows them only the next step.”

Abraham provides a remarkable example.

God said to Abram, “Leave your native country and relatives. Abandon your homeland, and go to a place that I will show you.” — Genesis 12:1

Notice what God didn’t give him. No map. No itinerary. No detailed description of the destination. Just go. Abraham obeyed and went, even though he didn’t know where he was going (Hebrews 11:8). He trusted God enough to believe the next step following him had to be better than his own plan.

Move When God Moves

The Israelites experienced the same kind of guidance in the wilderness. They didn’t receive a forty-year itinerary before leaving Egypt. Instead, they had a cloud by day and fire by night. When the cloud moved, they moved. When it stopped, they stopped (Numbers 9:17).

Imagine trying to run a modern travel agency that way. “When are we leaving?” When the cloud moves. “Where are we going?” Wherever it goes. “How long are we staying?” We don’t know. That would drive a professional planner crazy. But it taught Israel something far more important than scheduling. Dependence. God wasn’t merely taking them somewhere. He was teaching them how to follow.

Hold the Plan Loosely

A plan is useful until we become more committed to the plan than to God. That danger can be subtle. We pray for God to bless our plans when perhaps we should be asking whether he wants to change them. We become frustrated when interruptions interfere with our schedules, never considering that the interruption might be our assignment.

The priest and the Levite in Jesus’ story about the Good Samaritan may have had somewhere important to go. Whatever their plans were, they continued down the road. The Samaritan allowed someone else’s need to alter his schedule (Luke 10:30–37).

Sometimes what looks like an interruption may be the next step God puts in front of us.

See What the Father Is Doing

Jesus knew his ultimate mission, yet his daily ministry often appeared remarkably responsive.

• Someone cried out from the roadside. Jesus stopped.

• A synagogue leader asked him to come heal his daughter. Jesus went.

• A woman touched his garment. Jesus stopped again.

• Children came to him. He welcomed them.

• A grieving widow walked behind the coffin of her only son. Jesus intervened.

His life had direction without appearing enslaved to a schedule.

“I assure you,” Jesus said, “that the Son can do nothing by his own initiative but will only do what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son will do likewise.” — John 5:19

That may be one of the clearest descriptions of spiritual direction anywhere in Scripture. See what the Father is doing. Then do that.

Let God Use the Missteps

Of course, we don’t always hear perfectly. Sometimes we misunderstand. Sometimes we move too quickly. Sometimes our carefully constructed plans collapse.

The old saying about the best-laid plans of mice and men going awry recognizes something Scripture has always taught: Human beings can’t foresee everything. But Scripture gives us something even better. God can use the wrong turns.

Peter made plenty of mistakes. He spoke when he should have listened. He made promises he couldn’t keep. He tried to stop Jesus from going to the cross. Eventually, he denied even knowing him. Yet Jesus didn’t discard Peter. He restored him. Peter’s failure became part of his preparation.

Romans 8:28 doesn’t say everything that happens is good. It says God works through everything for good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose.

Even our mistakes aren’t wasted when we’re surrendered to him.

Redefine Success

The world usually defines success by outcomes. Did the business grow? Did the book sell? Did the investment increase? Did the audience applaud? Did the plan work?

God may ask a different question: Were you faithful?

• Noah spent decades building an ark while probably looking foolish.

• Abraham left home without knowing his destination.

• Moses spent forty years in the wilderness before beginning the work for which we remember him.

• Jeremiah preached faithfully while seeing very little positive response.

• Jesus finished his earthly ministry with only a small group of frightened followers hiding behind locked doors.

By ordinary measurements, some of God’s greatest servants might have looked unsuccessful. But they obeyed.

That is a different scorecard.

Write in Pencil

Yes, make plans. Set goals. Use calendars. Develop budgets. Establish deadlines. Think ahead. Planning can be an act of stewardship.

But never confuse your plan with God’s direction.

Include the Lord in everything you do, and he will direct your thoughts. — Proverbs 16:3

Write your plan in pencil. Let God keep the eraser.

• We may want to see the next ten years. God may show us Tuesday morning.

• We may want a five-year strategy. God may give us one phone call to make.

• We may want the entire road illuminated. God may provide enough light for one more step.

Your Word is a lamp to keep my feet from stumbling, a light that shines before me to show the way you want me to go. — Psalm 119:105

A lamp doesn’t illuminate the entire countryside. It gives enough light to keep walking.

The Next Step Is Enough

“The next step” may be one of the hardest lessons of faith.

• We want certainty. God asks for trust.

• We want explanations. God gives direction.

• We want the destination. God shows the next step.

Good planning has tremendous value, and most people will accomplish far more when they learn to plan wisely and work diligently. But there is something better than executing the perfect plan. Following the Lord.

True success isn’t arriving exactly where we intended to go. It’s being where God wants us to be, doing what he wants us to do, when he wants us to do it. And when we miss a turn, he’s still capable of leading us forward.

We don’t need the entire journey. We only need enough faith to take the next step.

For many more open-ended discussion questions for almost every verse in the Bible, check out The Discussion Bible

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