Our devotions this Easter season come from members of Faith Lutheran Church. Today’s writer is Evangeline Dai.
“The plans of the mind belong to mortals, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. All one’s ways may be pure in one’s own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirit. Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.” Proverbs 16:1-3
The Bible reminds us many times that sometimes we think we are doing things in the right way and we think we are innocent. However, we can’t be so proud of ourselves because God knows and weighs our heart. To use one’s own standard to value things, that self-confidence is a dangerous trap. Even if we can lie to ourselves, we can’t deceive God. Like Adam blamed it on Eve, Eve blamed it on the snake. They might have claimed that they’re innocent, but God knows their heart, knows their sin, and knows that they didn’t obey the order.
Similarly, “All deeds are right in the sight of the doer, but the Lord weighs the heart.” (Proverbs 21:2) and “…for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7). These verses keep on reminding us that God gave us free will, and we need to take responsibility for our behaviors.
God gave human beings free will to make plans, but God has the right answers and authority.
This reminds me of an old Chinese saying “moú shì zaì rén , chéng shì zaì tiān” which Google translated as, “Man Proposes, God Disposes” (Yes, it‘s exactly like Proverbs 19:21 as well—“The human mind may devise many plans, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will be established.”)
Also, God reveals over and over again that God wants us to trust, commit our works, and lift our burdens. Even though sometimes our plans are not God’s plans, and our time is not God’s time, God still listens to our prayers and fulfills our prayers when the time comes, or in God’s way.
Let us pray: Dear Lord, please lead us and guide us to learn how to lift up our burdens and worries to you, and have stronger faith in you, truly, madly, deeply, to trust you and love you with all our heart, all our soul, all our strength, and all our minds. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Daily Devotions 
May 1, 2017 at 6:45 am |
I agree wholeheartedly with Evangeline that God gave free will to us to make plans, but only He has the right answers and the authority.
These verses from Psalm 100: 2-5 also support this idea.
“Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.”