Why Our Plans Fail

Why Our Plans Fail

The LORD foils the plans of the nations; he thwarts the purposes of the peoples.

Psalm 33:10

We must do what God wants and stop thinking and worrying about what God hasn’t told us to do. Nothing is safer for us or more pleasing to God than when we trust in God’s Word instead of our own ideas. In his Word, we will find enough guidance about what we are to do. God requires us to have faith, to love, and to endure suffering. These three should be enough to keep us delightfully busy. We should deal with everything else as it comes along and let God worry about how it all turns out. If we don’t want to listen to what God says in his Word, he punishes us by simply letting us torment ourselves for no good reason.

When wise men and princes ignore God’s Word, God doesn’t let any of their intentions happen, whether good or bad. This psalm says, “The LORD foils the plans of the nations.” God will always thwart the plans of those who work the hardest by using their own wisdom. But even this doesn’t convince us to subject our plans to what God wants. So our plans and ideas only distress and torment us, even though these are not bad in themselves. As Jesus said, “Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34). God doesn’t send this trouble to destroy us. Rather, he sends it to us to persuade us to give up our foolish ideas and plans. He wants to show us that our wisdom is worthless. Ultimately, our wisdom isn’t what makes things happen; only the will of God does that. So we must learn to pray, “Let your will be done.”