“Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and He will establish your plans.” Proverbs 16:3
While this Scripture may be easy for us to memorize, the daily application of it often comes as a challenge. As a seasoned professional speaker, bible teacher and best-selling author, Liz Curtis Higgs has encountered her own struggles with submitting her plans to God on a daily basis.
“Now I don’t know how you feel about plans, but I love to plan; I love to write stuff down, I love to have calendars for today, tomorrow, next week, next month, next year, etc. I’m embarrassed to tell you that we just opened our 2020 calendar to look at speaking engagements. That is crazy! But it’s what we do here at the Higgs’ house.”
“Having plans is terrific, but notice how it says ‘He will establish your plans’ and that’s the big challenge. The old Lizzy would figure out what I was going to do and just kind of wave my plans in the Lord’s direction and say, ‘Hey Lord, how does this look to you? So glad you like it; here I go!’”
Rather than just filling her schedule and saying, ‘I hope this works for you Lord!’ Liz has learned how to intentionally seek God’s counsel and direction for her life each and every day.
“What He’s trying desperately to teach me is to hold up that empty calendar to Him and say, ‘Lord, you write in my calendar the plans you have for me. Show me what it is you want me to be doing. You may write with a pencil with an eraser if you find something better for me; something you’d rather have me do. Whatever those plans are, they’re your plans for me, not my plans to serve you.’ It’s just a mental shift but I’m trying to get there.”
If we want to honor God with how we spend our time, we need to include Him in the planning process. Liz brings us to another passage in Proverbs.
“Proverbs 19:21 says, ‘Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.’ So I can have all my plans in my heart, but ultimately it’s God’s purpose that prevails. Sometimes we have to just trust that less is more to God. That we don’t have to do everything we think we need to do. We need to say, ‘Lord, what’s the very best way for me to spend the next hour?’ Because He will have an answer and it will be the right one.”
Submitting our plans to God shows Him that we trust in His direction, and allows Him to move more freely in our lives.
Liz Curtis Higgs has one goal: to help women embrace the grace of God with joy and abandon. She is the author of more than thirty books, including . Liz has toured with Women of Faith, Extraordinary Women, and Women of Joy, and has spoken at more than 1,700 conferences in all fifty states of the United States and fifteen foreign countries.
Wisdom from the Proverbs with Liz Curtis Higgs
