Proverbs 16:9 – A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps.

Romans 12:2 – And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

How the sovereignty of God works in our life is not always an easy question to answer.  The sovereignty of God works in a lost man or woman’s life by the Holy Ghost convicting them of their sin, of their lack of righteousness and the need of Christ’s righteous, and lastly of eternal judgment in the lake of fire (John 16:8).  But how does the sovereignty of God work in the child of God’s life?  According to Proverbs 16 it starts with a man’s heart devising a way and ends with God providing course correction during execution.  Devising according to the Webster’s 1828 means:

Contriving; inventing; forming a scheme or plan.

Good planning and execution is critical to accomplishing anything in life.  Devising is talking about planning how we are going to accomplish something.  We need to plan according to the Word of God.  But after we have a plan and we have peace from the Lord, then we need to execute.  It is during the execution that the Lord gets involved and makes any necessary course corrections as the Lord directs our steps.

Often we can prepare the horse against the day of battle but sooner or later you have to fight.  It is kind of interesting that the Lord does not really get involved heavily until we try some doors and get things moving.  That is what living a life of faith is.  I am not saying the Lord should not be sought during the devising or planning, but the Lord’s direction often does not come until we try the Lord and start moving.  You can dream and plan all you want but until you try and execute, it will not do you much good.  It is always easier to steer a moving car than a parked one. God’s sovereignty is executed in our life as we step out by faith and try Him.  As we plan and devise however, it must be according to the will of God.  According to Romans 12 the will of God is determined in the heart by three things:

1. Not Being Conformed to the World
2. Having a Transformed Mind
3. Proving God’s Will

If you are living a worldly life, if your mind is not transformed daily by the Word of God and you are not trying to prove or determine the will of God through prayer, you are going to have a deceived heart rather than a godly devising heart.  It is so important we get the mind of the Lord before we move out.  However, as I stated earlier, the Lord is very good at course correction.  The problem is the course correction the Lord provides is often interpreted as “hinderances”, “problems” and “setbacks.”  In reality we should be thanking God he is directing our steps in this manner, otherwise you would miss the will of God.  Thank God his sovereignty knows what is best for us and he sees the way we should take.

Photo by Will Scullin