Man Plans, God Laughs
Many of you have heard the statement used as the title for this article and, if your life is anything like mine, you know how true this statement is. The google machine suggests that this statement originates from a Yiddish proverb “Der mentsh trakht un got lakht” which is roughly translated into English as “Man plans, God laughs.” This thought is similar to the quote by the boxer Mike Tyson, who is better known for his ear biting than his philosophical statements: “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” I believe these principles are close to one found in Proverbs 19:21, which reads, “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.” In the end, God’s plan always prevails.
How many times have you said “Okay, this is what I’m going to do” and 1 year, 1 month, or sometimes 1 day later you realize your plan has blown up in ways you never thought it could. These changed plans don’t only happen in our individual lives but on much grander scales as well. Many of you are old enough to remember the 1997 Macy’s Day Thanksgiving parade, where a 60-foot tall, helium filled Barney balloon was caught by heavy wind gusts and threatened to lift his handlers off the ground. After several tense moments, the wind knocked Barney into a lamp post, which pierced his side and led to a fast “deflation” of the problem. I seriously doubt the Macy’s parade planners ever considered that as an option when they included Barney in the parade.
In our Sunday morning sermon, we’ll walk through our own experiences as an example of how true the statement is but, between now and then, I’d encourage you to reflect on your own life. How many times have you made a plan, prayed for that plan to happen, then quickly (or slowly) realized that plan was not going to happen? Then, one, five, or ten years later, you look back and think “I’m so glad God didn’t allow my plan to happen,” a thought well-articulated by Garth Brooks in his song “Unanswered Prayers.” Of course, God, in all His wisdom, has a solution for plans that make Him laugh. That solution is found in James 4:13-15, where we read “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’” Many of us sometimes use the phrase (almost flippantly, I’m afraid), “Lord willing, and the creeks don’t rise.” But honestly, we should live our lives by the first part of that phrase and say (or at least think), “If it is the Lord’s will, then I will do…” We’ll talk about strategies for planning with the Lord this Sunday.
— Dave May
