Faith and careful planning
David PotterMarch 8th, 2008
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Proverbs 16:9 (TLB)
We should make plans - counting on God to direct us.
I love the optimism of youth. I remember being young and thinking that I could accomplish anything; I still have those thoughts and feelings from time to time 
- and I remember those times of faith, of thinking that I just had to trust in God and everything would be alright.
Sounds good, doesn’t it? The thing is, there is a part we have to play in all that.
There must be a balance between faith and careful planning. Yet, talk to some professing Christians and you might think otherwise. For example, talk with some who are unemployed and they’ll tell you, "I’m just waiting for the Lord to provide a job." That’s fine, but have you sharpened you job skills? And where have you placed your resume? You say, "I’m not going that route, I’m just waiting on God." Oh, really? Then you won’t mind going hungry for a while."
I am inspired by those - especially the young - who have such amazing faith that God will lead, guide and provide. What I want those same young people to understand, though, is that balance between faith and planning. If we squander our time and our resources and still expect God to provide, we are not being good stewards of what He has already provided to us.
I don’t think I can say it any better than the writer of the devotional says, so let me just his his words:
To walk by faith does not mean you stop thinking, planning, taking advice, and self-correcting. And it definitely doesn’t imply becoming lazy or apathetic. What a distortion of biblical faith!
- Trust God for your finances, but don’t ‘blow your budget.’
- Trust God for safety in the car, but don’t pass on a blind curve.
- Trust God for your health, but don’t chain-smoke, stay up half the night and subsist on potato chips and carbonated drinks.
Acting foolishly, expecting God bail you out when things go amiss, isn’t faith, it’s presumption. Wisdom says do all you can, then trust God to do what you cannot do. Faith and careful planning go hand-in-hand. They always have and they always will!
Amen!
It’s true, I don’t know how many college students even that have been slothful. They stay up late watching movie, eating junk, then pealing themselves out of bed just in time to get to class the following morning. Then they turn around and complain about their student bills weighing down on them saying, “why isn’t God providing for me?”
anyway. Who knew you were such an avid writer.
C ya!
Blessings,
Brooke <
Well, not you in particular, but I’m glad you found it helpful. Having teenagers in the house has changed my perspective over the years. Hopefully I get wiser as I get older, although there are times when I see very clearly that I have a lot of work to do.
