We should never take for granted or assume the “Providence” of God. James 4:13 -15 says “Come now you who say ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.’”

This would more than suggest that moving forward with any decision or venture without God’s guidance may lead to peril. What possible outcomes could there be? We never reach the city? Life itself runs out? Being no guarantee of profits, none are realized? The truth of the matter is that God has left us in the dark as to the certainties of our future in this life. How then are we to arrive at any decisions at all? Does scripture tell us how to proceed in our decision making endeavors?

Our first clue is found in verse 15 above. All of our plans must be subject to God’s will. In biblical times people prospered when they moved forward upon God’s blessing. Anything that God blesses is a sure thing. Our next question might be, “How do we know when God blesses our plans?” To be sure, they must be submitted in prayer, they must not be contrary to anything we know of God’s will in scripture and we must receive His peace about the decision to proceed. (A lack of peace is a sure sign to remain still. Whether the answer is no or wait, the immediate answer is not now.)

Do we need to make a plan? Plans can be beneficial and provide the specifics we need for diligent prayer. Actually, the lack of a concrete plan may be a hinderance to receiving God’s answer. Proverbs 16:9 says “A man’s heart plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.” If we take the time to offer to God the desires of our heart and our plans for the means and ends of reaching our desires then God may either bless, change or reject our plans. However there has to be a safeguard in the process. If He blesses, then we have every reason to expect the plans to prosper. If He changes our plans, it is because He wants His best for us and our plan would have fallen short of it. If He rejects our plan then He probably wants to do something completely different than we can imagine but again His best for us will be the outcome. In directing our steps, He also has the power to change our desires. Moving forward with our plans at any turn in our lives without submission to Him greatly increases our chance of failure or disappointment. Only He is high enough, to see far enough down the road to know what lies ahead.