Title: Man's Plan and God's Will
[Min Byeong-seok's Proverbs Exposition] 44
Man's plan and God's will Text: (Proverbs 19:21)
Today's worship service will receive grace under the title of 'Man's plan and God's will' under the theme of Proverbs 19:21. Many people think that their will and God's will are the same. But the reality is that my will and God's will can be vastly different. Even if you are a person who is very strong in faith, longs for God's Word, and enjoys listening to it, most people do not know that their plan is far from God's will.
We prayed earnestly, but the reason we don't get answers is because the contents of our prayers conflict with God's will for us to do for us. That's why the Apostle James said, "You do not have because you do not ask, and you ask and do not have because you ask erroneously, that you may spend it on your lusts."
In most cases, we humans make our own plans with lust and strive to achieve them, so we pray, but we often do not receive God's answers.
1. Man's plan contradicts God's plan
Why, then, is man's plan so lustful and revealing so many contradictions with God's will? According to the Bible, human plans are run by the heart. However, according to Jeremiah 17:9, the human heart is not filled with good things that can accomplish God's will. Because it is said that the heart of man is “deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.”
In Matthew 15, Jesus said, “Evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, theft, false witness, and blasphemy” about what is in the human heart. Because these things dominate our hearts, we cannot have a good plan that is in harmony with God's will.
Then, here we will find out what the will of God is as God speaks.
(1) You can see that God's will is always aimed at the glory of God. Psalm 79:9 says, “O God of our salvation, help us for the glory of your name, deliver us for your name’s sake, and forgive us our sins.”
All that God does and all the purposes of his providence are for the sake of God's name, that is, for the glory of God. His purpose in creating the world is also in his glory. It is for his glory that God sent his Son into the world. If you look at the angel's song praising the birth of the Lord, it is said, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased."
(2) And we must understand God's will so that we can know that God's will is not for planning or working for things that are visible right now, but for fruitful results in the distant future. In Jeremiah 29:11, God said to Israel, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, I know that I am thinking toward you, not evil, but peace, to give you hope for your future.”
We need to know the will of God like this. Therefore, if we encounter difficulties, trials, or troubles, we will not become discouraged and discouraged, but remember the words that all these things do not bring us calamity, but rather give us hope for the future. You must have patience and be able to wait for God's will in hope.
The same is true of the discipline we receive from God. In Hebrews 12 we read, “My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline, nor lose heart when he rebukes him; for the Lord disciplines those he loves, and scours every son whom he receives. It is invisible and sad, but it bears the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.'
2. The way of life
We need to know whose hands are the paths of life. Many people know that the way of their life is in their hands. But this thought does not come from biblical judgment. If the path of life is in the person himself, perhaps the most cunning, deceptive, and crafty person will be the best. But the Bible tells us that the way of life belongs to God.
In Proverbs 16:1 and 9, it says, “No matter how much a man plans with his heart, it is with God that he will answer his plan.” To whom is God answering? When a person's life management that he has in his heart is in harmony with God's will, he reaches out to that person. He answers the prayers of such people.
(1) We can take the case of King Belshazzar as an example about this life plan in Dan 5. There, there is an article that King Belshazzar of Babylon is destroyed in one night by the forces of Medebasa. King Belshazzar was the son of the famous Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar, and he was proud of his father's kingdom and wielded power. His heart's thoughts and plans were filled with the will to conquer more countries than his father had accomplished, and to seize and command the world's hegemony.
One day, he was enjoying drinking alcohol in the royal palace with his servants and queens from the temple equipment of God he had taken from the temple in Jerusalem. However, something strange happened when they were giving and receiving alcohol for a long time. Then, suddenly, a human finger appeared and started writing on the wall opposite the candlestick of the royal palace. The king looked at the finger and said that his face turned to earthen color, and his knees collided against each other as if his thighs had melted.
The king hastily summoned Daniel to interpret the text. According to Daniel's interpretation, the text written as 'Mene Mene Tekel Ubarsin' means that Mene means that God has already counted the age of the king's kingdom and brought it to an end. "The king was weighed on the scales and showed his lack; and Perez, the king's kingdom was divided and given to the Medes and Persians." But that same night, King Belshazzar was slain, and Darius the Mede became king and raised Medo-Persia.
In this way, God moves and works according to God's will and plan, no matter what anyone says, so those who do not seek the glory of God but design their lives according to their own plans and live according to their own thoughts will lose their lives by God's hand and Those who follow the will of God and live for the glory of God will have hope in the future. Hallelujah !
(2) When we look at the case of Joseph, we can see God's great providence and his guidance. Jacob bore 12 sons from your wives. Among them, the son named Joseph was the eleventh son, and Joseph loved this Joseph whom he had acquired in his old age. But Joseph's brothers hated his brother Joseph, who confessed their sins to their father. One day, Joseph had a dream. In a dream, Joseph had a vision in which he was worshiped by his brothers, and this dream caused his brothers to hate him even more. Meanwhile, Joseph went to his brothers with a packed lunch. From afar, the brothers, who thought it was Joseph, plotted to kill him.
He was sold by his brothers to merchants going to Egypt and taken to Egypt to live as a slave in Butiphar's house. Joseph suffered unspeakable hardships in Egypt, but eventually became the prime minister of Egypt and ruled Egypt. God's plan for Joseph had already been determined and worked on by his brothers' wicked conspiracies.
The plans of the people who disobey God or the people who go against God's will were rather used as a tool to accomplish God's will for God's people. Even the devil afflicts and tests God's people, but in the end, God's will is done.
We definitely need to know. Success in life does not consist in making a good life plan, nor in working hard to achieve it. Psalm 127 has this to say: “Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain, and unless the LORD guards the city, the watchman keeps watch in vain.”
A person must realize the will of God and follow it in order to succeed without failing. There is a secret to success in your life by following God's will, and that is the fact that you must first change your mind. The Holy Spirit of God enters into us, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, we must cast away our carnal thoughts that have lived so far and be transformed into spiritual thoughts that seek to live under the guidance of God's Word.
This kind of change is possible only when you are born again by the Holy Spirit. Without being born again, there is no way to achieve a new life. In Christianity, this history of change is called regeneration. Since regeneration is the first gateway for a person to lead a Christian life, no new change can be expected in any way without passing through this gate.
Then it is essential to always follow God's will in his life. We need to understand “what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God”. And you have to center your life here. We can know this will of God through the Word of God. This is called a life of obedience.
In the midst of hardships and trials that come to us next time, we must have patience and persevere with hope and wait for the will of God. Therefore, James and the apostle said that those who endure temptation are blessed.
Conclusion: Your path should not be planned or run according to your own will. You need to realize that God has a way for you and that God is guiding and directing your way, and entrusting your life to God.
Broadly speaking, in life there is a way of life and a way of death. God will guide and guarantee your path because the life that sets the goal of our life to Jesus Christ and follows His will is a life that follows God's right plan.
However, a life without Christ, no matter how splendid and beautiful it may appear, will end in destruction. Which path are you going to take? I pray in the name of the Lord that your life will bear the blessing of fulfilling your hopes for the future by making your life plan and trusting and trusting in God who works to make your true hope come true.