Established.

Psalm 138:8 "The Lord will fulfill His purpose for me..."
Psalm 57:2 "I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills His purpose for me."
Psalm 37:23 "The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in His way."
Proverbs 16:3 "Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established."
Proverbs 16:9 "The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps." 


The Lord has a plan.
And it will happen.
If WE commit ourselves to HIS will.


If we try to plan out our life according to the way we think it should happen, we aren't surrendering ourselves fully to God. I strongly believe that God has instilled dreams in each of us. He places things on our hearts that He wants us to do. The problem is that we oftentimes twist those dreams and make up our own plan with how we want our lives to turn out. It is not wrong to dream and make plans. In fact, God created us to be dreamers. He wants us to dream. But He wants us to dream in such a way that is in alignment with what He has purposed.

Proverbs 16:9

a.) "The heart of man plans his way"-- In our hearts, we plan out our lives. Plan (chashab) in Hebrew means:  invent, devise, make a judgement, imagine, count. Replace the word plan with any of these words. It's kind of crazy how it sounds. "The heart of man invents his own way"/"The heart of man devises his own way"/"The heart of man imagines his own way." The word we use (plan) sounds a whole lot less intense. To say that my heart invents its own way alludes to the fact that it makes up a different path than what God has for me. It almost sounds rebellious...like I can do life on my own. False. 


b.) "but the Lord establishes his steps."-- Establish (kuwn) could also mean: direct, accomplish, fix, to be firm, to be stable, to set up, to be secure, to be enduring, to prepare. This sounds much more stable than to imagine or invent a plan. "The Lord makes his steps to endure"/"the Lord prepares his steps." Meaning, God will stabilize our steps and will lead us down the path that He chooses for us. 


When we stop trying to invent our own way and we allow God establish His way, the path before us will be one of security and endurance. 


Talking about paths and steps makes me think about the narrow road that Jesus told us to walk on. Matthew 7:13-14 "Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it." 


If we go down the path that we choose for ourselves, it is as if we are making a choice to go down the wide path. When we follow the Lord and allow Him to lead us, we will be walking down the narrow path that leads to life.