Planning Your Life
These days, every serious institution has a mission statement, a vision statement, a values statement, and other statements which all go into a folder called “Core Docs.” We’ve been told (and we believed) that all this was necessary to help us know who we are, to shape our goals, to guide our behaviour. And hey! I think it is a good idea, but only if you haul them out of the folder every once in a while and let them do their job.
This kind of thing is promoted on a personal basis, too. I’ve even run a few seminars to help people identify what they want out of life. One of the key components of that is the “epitaph exercise” in which people write down what they’d like on their tombstone. Then they work backwards to figure out how they’d have to live their lives now to make that reality.
Parents encourage their kids to think about the future, to plan ahead, so they can reach their goals in their pursuit of happiness. Teachers advise their students about their strengths and weaknesses so they can make decisions which are more likely to lead to success. Pastors provide spiritual guidance which often involves the discipline of following some kind of plan.
We need plans. We’re asked “How can you hit a target if you don’t know what it is?” We’re told, “If you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail.” and “A plan is the difference between a goal and a dream.” Those are good things to consider. A certain irresistible logic characterizes such comments. We can test them. They work... most of the time.
What does God say about our plans and planning? Could it be that life isn’t working according to our plan, because we’ve neglected to consider God’s plan? The big thing that we need to understand here is that time does not belong to us. It belongs to God. Our life is accurately described as a vapour. It shows up one day, like steam coming out of a kettle, and another day, it dissipates and disappears. Psalm 39:5-6 records these words of the writer addressed to God: “LORD... You have made my days as hand-breadths, And my age is as nothing before You; Certainly every man at his best state is but vapor. Surely every man walks about like a shadow.”
Another writer, James, calls us to reason: “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.’” (James 4:13-15)
Notice, the making of plans is not criticized or condemned. It is making plans without taking God into account that is decried. There are two things to observe here. One is that, as we are making our plans, we need to make sure that they fit in with what God has revealed as His general plan. Clearly anything that takes us into prohibited territory should be avoided. The Bible gives all kinds of guidance in this. It clearly describes boundaries for us as we deal with life in the family, in the workplace, in church, in the neighbourhood, and in society at large. So we don’t make plans that will violate what God has already established.
Let me add a comment here. This is very unpopular in our culture right now where defying norms, crossing lines, blurring distinctions, and expressing ourselves without constraint are all applauded. To do anything less than applaud others living this way is seen as “intolerant” and the only thing we are allowed to be intolerant of is intolerance. It is ironic that “political correctness” tries to force us to pay homage to many values and behaviours which God put out of bounds.
The other thing to take into account as we are making our plans is the fact that God may have specific plans for us which run quite counter to ours. This is sometimes apparent as we ask for His guidance and through His word, wise counsel, circumstances of life, and inner urges He directs us into places we never dreamed of. When I was a teenager, I never imagined my life as it is now. Nor would it have had any appeal.
But beyond seeking God’s plan to make it our own, we sometimes find ourselves experiencing a sudden, unexpected and sometimes unpleasant redirection. Illness, bereavement, job loss and the like can suddenly rip our plan out of our hands and place us on an unknown path. At times like this, to make life really work, we need to commit ourselves to working out God’s intention for us as we walk down this unanticipated path.
When life’s not working, in one way or another, it’s a good idea to see if you’ve intentionally lined your plans up with God’s. If you haven’t, reorient yourself according to His word. If you have, and things still don’t make sense, stay committed to Him as you live one day after another placing His glory above your comfort in your priority list.
