I'm a planner by nature. To-dos, projects, goals, ideas to look into, and appointments are on my calendar months from now. Sometimes I plan so much I plan beyond preparing for the known and desired to planning for the unknown and undesired.
There are definitely upsides to this but the temptation to think of myself as captain of my own destiny, my protector, and my safe-keeper is not one of them.
The wisdom of Proverbs warns many times against this kind of arrogance. Today I was struck by four unsuspecting words in the first verse of Exodus 17.
"All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the LORD…"
Or Alter's translation:
Either way, the point is the same: God sets the itinerary, not Moses.
So it is with us. No matter how much of a planner we are, how much of a spontaneous person we are, or how much we live passively according another's agenda, ultimately, God sets the itinerary. Whose itinerary are you living by? Your own? God's? Do you, like David, earnestly seek and yearn for the Lord's commandments to know his will for you?
There are definitely upsides to this but the temptation to think of myself as captain of my own destiny, my protector, and my safe-keeper is not one of them.
The wisdom of Proverbs warns many times against this kind of arrogance. Today I was struck by four unsuspecting words in the first verse of Exodus 17.
"All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the LORD…"
Or Alter's translation:
"And all the community of Israelites moved onward from the Wilderness of Sin on their journeyings by the Lord's direction…"
Either way, the point is the same: God sets the itinerary, not Moses.
So it is with us. No matter how much of a planner we are, how much of a spontaneous person we are, or how much we live passively according another's agenda, ultimately, God sets the itinerary. Whose itinerary are you living by? Your own? God's? Do you, like David, earnestly seek and yearn for the Lord's commandments to know his will for you?
1 comment:
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Thank you,
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