Contrast the Upright and the Wicked
16 The plans of the heart belong to man,
But the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
2 All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight,
But the Lord weighs the [a]motives.
3 [b]Commit your works to the Lord
And your plans will be established.
4 The Lord has made everything for [c]its own purpose,
Even the wicked for the day of evil.
5 Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord;
Assuredly, he will not be unpunished.
6 By lovingkindness and truth iniquity is atoned for,
And by the [d]fear of the Lord one keeps away from evil.
7 When a man’s ways are pleasing to the Lord,
He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.
8 Better is a little with righteousness
Than great income with injustice.
9 The mind of man plans his way,
But the Lord directs his steps.
As with anything involving the subject of free will, it takes a bit to wrap one’s mind around some of these verses. Especially verses 1 & 9, where we make our own plans, and then somehow God directs our steps and/or our tongues. What’s that all about?
Well, without diving into the deep end of theology, lets try this on for size: I am not in control, and neither are you. We make our plans, and we may stubbornly refuse to let God be in control. What have we accomplished? First, we have been busy fighting against God–unless we’ve accidentally gone exactly where He wanted anyway.
Second, as we walk down that path, we will inevitably find ourselves steering in a direction different from what we intended, because someone else threw a wrench in the works. That is, a wrench God knew was coming and could have helped us avoid. But no, we know better, and we’ll go our own way, thank you very much!
So again, I will say, we are not in control, and any attempts to prove otherwise are an illusion of control. Don’t believe me? Go read it again! Who made everything (v. 4), who judges and weighs the hearts of men (vv. 2,5)? Who makes our enemies to be at peace (v. 7)? What then shall we do?
The answer is right here also, in v. 3, “Commit your works to the Lord, and your plans will be established.” Don’t make your plans and then ask God to bless them, or you’ll have it all flipped upside-down. Commit your work, your day, your family, your friends, commit everything to His control. Then you don’t have to worry if things don’t seem to be going the way you think they ought, because they are going the way God wants them to, and that’s going to turn out better than we could have hoped.