Proverbs - Wisdom For Troubled Times

So let's turn to proverbs where we we were doing a series in proverbs. We got to chapter 6 16 and we're now in Proverbs 16. We've just finished a series in 1 Peter and now we're back into Proverbs who to investigate this amazing little book. So Proverbs chapter 16 and verses 1 to 9 I'm reading.

To humans belong the plans of the heart, but from the lord, comes the proper answer of the tongue? All a person's ways seem pure to them, but motives awaid by the lord. Commit to the lord, whatever you do, and he will establish your plans. The Lord works out everything to its proper end, even the wicked for a day of disaster. The lord detests all the proud of heart.

Be sure of this. They will not go unpunished. Through love and faithfulness, sin is atoned for, through the fear of the lord, evil is avoided. When the lord takes pleasure in anyone's ways, he causes their enemies to make peace with them. Better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice.

In their hearts, humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps. Welcome from me. Good morning. Welcome the name of the Lord Jesus. My name is Ben, and 1 of the pastors here at the church.

It's really lovely to see you. If you're new or visiting, it's really good to have you. So those watching online as well. Thanks for tuning in. Just another quick thing to say about our evening service tonight, we've got a slightly sort of 1 off special.

We're interviewing 1 of our members, Shelinie, who's been a member here for a little while. And she has an amazing online bible study ministry where she teaches the bible to I think hundreds of people on Zoom. And she's been doing this for years and years before Zoom was even something you and I knew about. And so she's we're gonna interview her tonight. We're considering I think we've we've almost decided we're going to make her 1 of the missionaries that we support as a church.

So it would be great to come along and hear more about that. We support quite a few different missionaries, if you didn't know. And she's gonna be 1 of the sort of newest ones. So please do come along to that. If you don't normally come, it'd be good You can tune in online, you can come.

Evening service, by the way, is great. If you like the morning service, evening service is fantastic. So if you've never been, do come. We're we're in the book of John. It's got a slightly different feel to this.

It's a bit more intense. We sit on tables. What do I mean? I don't mean intense. Sorry?

A bit more intimate. That's it. Yeah. It's intense. It was last week when I preached that was for sure.

Okay. Come along to that. We're gonna be hearing from Selena. It'd be great. Brilliant.

Please keep your bibles open. We're gonna need to look at a few verses. From that chapter in in proverbs. And as Pete said, we finished our series in 1 Peter, which was fantastic, wasn't it was great. Every Wednesday at home group, we were talking about something totally different.

It was leadership, it was suffering, it was all sorts of stuff. And I hope that you you really benefited from that. But we're returning to Proverbs chapter 16. If you need a refresher on what the book of Proverbs is all about, Tom, kicked us off in Proverbs chapter 1 last June. And it's on our website.

If you go to the Sermons page and type in Proverbs, you can find it. He did a really great job of explaining what the book of Proverbs is all about and he set us off on on the right sort of direction as we as we look at it. Very briefly, however, I'll give you just a little nugget from his sermon. He said that the book of Proverbs is a wisdom book, all about right knowing, and right living. And he used the analogy of driving a car.

So when you drive a car, you need to pass the theory test. So you have to know all the stuff. You have to know what the road signs mean, you have to know what side of the road to drive on, you have to know how roundabouts operate, who to give way to all sorts of knowledge. But then you also have to be able to get in the car and be able to drive it. Some people here pass the theory test with flying colors and then struggle with the with the practical test.

It's a different thing. You have to know how to to drive the car as well. In the same way, we need to know the theory about wisdom. We have to know what the Bible says about wisdom. And then we also have to know how to apply it to our lives, how to live wisely.

And that's what the book of Proverbs is all about. Knowing and living wisely. The best thing, I think 1 of the best things about the book, is it doesn't pretend that you're a wise person. Doesn't assume you're wise. Actually, it assumes the opposite.

It assumes you're not wise. You need to get wisdom. The first few chapters are full of a father, pleading with a son. Listen to my instruction. Don't forsake your mother's teaching.

And it goes on and on like that. So you're not wise. You aren't wise. Sorry. If you thought you were wise walking in here, you're not.

And you need to get wisdom. So that's what the book of Proverbs is. It's about wisdom because we need to be taught, so we need to be teachable as we come to it, as always. So let's pray, ask the Lord's help. As we look at this chapter, asking to help us to be teachable.

Father, we thank you for giving us this book in the Bible. Thank you that you want us to live wise lives. It was finished upon the cross and yet you still have things to teach us and you want us to grow and mature and to live well. So I pray that you would help us now We are not wise. We're stubborn.

We have hard hearts. But I pray that by your spirit, you would work these truths into our hearts. And we would become wise and we would live wisely as a result of what we see here in Jesus' name, amen. Oh, men. Okay.

So let's talk about planning. Planning. There's a lot in this proverb about planning. And this is a famous expression, fail to plan, plan to fail. Teachers at school, and college, and uni will tell you that over and over again.

I tried to find out who originally said it. It's attributed to about a thousand people. Winston Churchill said a slight variation. Someone else said another. Anyway, you get the idea.

If you fail to plan, you better plan to fail. Here are some examples of people who fail to plan. I think that's got to be a joke, isn't it? But it's a funny point. This, however, is not a joke.

And a very serious reality, if you live in Kingston and are on your bike quite a lot. Anyone from the council here? I mean, look at it, the arrow goes into the pole, cyclists, boosh. And it's on the wrong side. I don't know.

Anyway, What's the next 1? Here we go. I just like identity crisis looking at this picture. I really feel for it. I'm like, who am I?

Why do I exist? What is the meaning of life? There are some steps to go up to come down a ramp to go back up the steps to go down a ramp. It's amazing, isn't it? Really feel for that.

And then this guy this guy this guy fell asleep sunbathing with a mask on in COVID times. So he didn't plan ahead very well. Okay. But if you fail to plan, you better plan to fail. But everyone's got plans, haven't they?

Everyone's got plans. Governments of plans, Right now, there are plans to help cost of living crisis. There are plans to help Ukraine. Governments of plans all over the world. Families have plans.

We you I mean, if you want to book me and Kerry, as a family member, you've got to book 2 months in advance because we've got loads of stuff going on. So you have to make plans. And we've got cousins, we've got aunties, we've got uncles, we've got grandparents, we've got well, you might have children, you might have grandchildren. They've all got birthdays. They've all got holidays.

You have to plan, haven't you? To see all of these things and do all of these things? Even churches have plans. We have loads of plans. We're planning the Jubilee.

We're planning share life. Which is a big sequence of events we're doing in October and November this year. Every Monday morning, the staff team have a planning meeting. Where we make plans for the following week, and we talk about who's going to lead the services, and what songs we're going to sing. Everybody plans.

I wonder whether you would say that your life is going according to plan. Is your life going according to plan? Would you say, actually, my life is not going according to plan at all. Are you happy with how things have turned out? Are you a bit disappointed?

Robert Burns was a Scottish poet. And he's got this poem that he's written to a mouse. And he says the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. Actually, he said, the best laid plans of my son, man, after I go, okay. Shouldn't that right, brother?

Exactly. The best laid plans, even the best laid plans go awry sometimes. And I wonder whether that's to some extent, that's all of our experiences. We've all had plans, haven't we? That don't quite go to plan.

Well, this this chapter in Proverbs, as I said, has got an awful lot teach us about human plans and about god's role in human plans. And what we see actually is really encouraging. Really, really encouraging. So let's take a look. My first point this morning is we plan, but the lord establishes And that's really, really clear.

If you look at verse 9 in your Bibles, it says, in their hearts, humans plan their course, but the lord establishes their steps. So it's a human trait that we plan. That's what we do. We think ahead. We desire outcomes.

And so we problem solve. We We come up with solutions. It's actually how we're designed. It's how God made us. He made us to be planners.

You know? Be fruitful and multiply. Go and subdue the earth. Go and plan and figure it out. In our hearts, we plan our course.

I mean, I'm sure everyone here knows what they're doing for lunch today, or most people know what they're doing for lunch today. Some of us, as far as we can think ahead, I can only think up to the next meal and beyond that, I've got no idea. I think 1 meal at a time. Other people here might have like a 5 year plan. And you all got a 5 year plan for their lives?

Pete hasn't got a 5 year plan. Do you know what you're having for lunch, brother? Nope. Doesn't even know that. So, we think we plan.

But we also take steps. It says in verse 9, the Lord establishes their steps. We take steps as well, don't we? We move forward. We put the plan into motion.

We put the plan into action, and we press on. But Proverbs says, we don't actually live in an empty universe. God, as Peter said, is on the throne. And he's a ruler, and he's sovereign. And that means that he is sovereign even over the steps we take and the plans that we make.

And more than that, verse 9 says, he establishes our steps. Now, that means he establishes where our steps land. So we might have a plan. We might draw up an idea in our head, and we might even start moving in that direction. We might lift our foot up to go, I'm going over that way.

But then the lord directs where our feet land. He directs our steps and establishes where they land according to his plans. That word established is also translated as prepares in other parts of the bible. So there's a sense in which God has actually just it doesn't just sort of establish and direct our foot as we as we take it up and he puts it down. But he's actually prepared.

He's prepared the place where our feet is gonna land. I mean, who here, for example, thought they were gonna end up in Kingston, London? Anyone think they were gonna end up living or attending a church or even today in Kingston London, particularly internationals. Had you even heard of Kingston London? No?

I came here for university 11 years ago. I didn't think I would still be here. And here I am. The Lord prepares the places where our feet land. And he directs us so that when we put our foot down, we land in the place he wants us to be.

God also makes our steps firm. He establishes them. He makes them strong. They're strengthened by him. So if we have a plan and actually for once it goes to plan, how much do you think that had to do with you?

I mean, just think about the amazing amount of external factors that can influence a plan that you have. Something actually goes well. If you actually got here this morning, isn't that amazing? In a sense. God has enabled and established your plan to happen.

I mean, everyone here had plans for 20 20, didn't they? Everyone had watertight, sort of robust, well thought through plans, we're gonna go on holiday, we're gonna go do this, we're gonna see this, all of that went out the window. So how much has it really got to do with us? If you look at verse 1, it says, to humans belong the plans of the heart, but from the lord comes the proper answer of the tongue. Or in other words, we make the plans, but God has the final say in what happens.

The last word on the matter is his word. The king or queen might stand up on that little balcony at Buckingham Palace, and make a speech. I don't think they make a speech there. But the King or Queen might stand up and make a speech. Your boss at the work that you go to might make a company wide address.

This is what we're going to do. But God has always got the closing remarks. What he says goes. And actually, that's true, we read here, of even what we consider to be chance or random. Things just happen sometimes randomly.

But look at verse 33, It says the lot is cast into the lap, but it's every decision, it's from the lord. God is in sovereign charge of every casino in the world. He is. Every dice roll, every card, every roulette outcome. In fact, my old workplace, I used to work in marketing here in Kingston, and they used to do special dues at Christmas.

And 1 year, they got 1 of these companies who do sort of casino nights with paper money to come in. They came in and they decked up the office, and they had the tables, the poker table, the blackjack table, the roulette table, and they had the groupiers, and the people dressed up and all the little sticks that you pull the things towards you with, all of that sort of stuff. It was good fun. And I was doing quite well that night. So on the poker table, playing well, my little paper money.

And I went to the blackjack table, had no idea what I was doing, so I lost a lot. So I went back to poker and did all right again. And then, the evening was was moving on, and it was coming to an end, and I thought, it's just paper money. So, you know, not going to take it home at the end of the day. You might as well go to the roulette table and put it all in red, or something like that.

That's what I did. The little ball is going round, the thing, spins, jumping around, hopping around, Guess where it lands? In red, double my money. Thank you very much. I was like, whoa.

Someone take me to Vegas. No. Because the very next thing I did was I'm gonna do that again, but I put it on black. Guess what happened? It was red.

I lost. And everything, all my hard earned money, was totally lost. I was like, God was sovereign over that experience to teach me never to gamble with real money. He was sovereign over even that experience. Now, the reason this is a comfort is because who is it, who is sovereign over our steps?

Who is it? Who is taking our steps and directing and establishing them? Because if this was an earthly leader, this was Putin. If this was even Zelensky, this would be a horror, wouldn't it? It would be a disaster.

We'd call them a dictator. But actually, the 1 who is sovereign over our lives and our plans, the 1 who directs and establishes our every step, And even the random things that happen around us, is our loving heavenly father. That is who is the 1 who's on the throw. And so our heavenly father guides and establishes our every step, just like A father lovingly helps their child to learn to walk. Yeah?

We've all seen that haven't we? When the child is like this, And the father's like this. That child might even see the mum. And I'm going over there to mommy. Wanna go to mommy, but actually they're like a drunken old man, and they're going this way because their body weight's taken them over there.

And so what does the father do? He sort of leans them forward in the direction of mommy, and then their leg swings out like that. And it's put down. And then they sometimes put their foot at an angle, don't they? So that if you just let them go, they'd crumple on the floor, but the father doesn't let that happen, does he?

He establishes their step. And he helps them walk in that direction. Now that is how God, our father, lovingly directs and establishes our plans with his final word. That's why this is a comfort and not a horror. I wanna show you an example of this.

In Acts chapter 16 very quickly, which is my second point, Paul's failed plans. Paul Paul is the apostle. He was a traveling preacher. We all know. I'm gonna have the verses up, so you can turn to them if you like, or you can just see them But Paul went wherever he could to preach the gospel.

That was his heart. He that was his overriding ambition for his life was to go wherever he could to preach the gospel. And he often made plans. He would often say, I'm planning to come to see you. I want to come to see you.

I want to go to Spain. I want to go to Rome. He was set he he was a man with a plan, Paul. But in chapter 16 verse 6, we read this. Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Frigia and Galatia having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia.

So here's Paul and his companions. Paul the man with the plan. He's got a plan to go to the province of Asia. He wants to preach the word of God. And now look, if there was ever a plan of man that you think God would be behind, it's that the apostle Paul goes somewhere to preach, isn't it?

The apostle Paul wants to go preach somewhere. Brilliant. Send him off, you know, unchain him. But actually here, We read that they're kept from following out their plan by the Holy Spirit. You think, what?

What's going on? Every time they took a step towards the province of Asia, the holy spirit would redirect and establish their step in another direction. Wherever their feet landed, it's odd, isn't it? And actually verse 7, it's even stronger. When they came to the border of Mizia, they tried They tried.

They tried to enter Bithynia, but the spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So here they are. They've reached the border, and they try to enter. This is 1 of those times in the bible where I love a little footnote or a little more detail. Like, how did they try?

What what was it? That stopped them. Did they not like have their passport in date? Or Did they not have the COVID pass on their phone that allowed them to travel internationally? It happened to me.

I was in France desperately trying to get permission. Because I'd gone on the English 1. Have they just had something to declare in customs? What is it? What?

What does it mean they tried to enter? We don't actually know what it is. I would love to know. But we're told that the spirit of Jesus would not allow them to enter. They went 1 way, they put their foot out in 1 direction, the Holy Spirit would not allow them to go that way, so they turn around, they go another way, They try to enter and the spirit of Jesus does not allow them to enter.

Wonder, have you been in that situation before? Did you feel like what these guys must have felt like? Every time you try and do something, a problem comes up, or where there's a door closed in your face and you think, okay, fine. Try this way. Another door in my face.

It's amazingly frustrating, isn't it? Just when you solve 1 issue, there's another 1. And so verse 8, so they passed by Mizer and went down to troas. This is plan c for Paul. In troas.

He's probably it's a port city. He's probably walking around it, looking at the buildings, looking at the fishermen, hearing the seagulls going, what on earth am I doing here? I wanted to be up in the province of Asia preaching, and I'm here. Why am I here? This wasn't even plan c.

But then we read that this was plan a for God. You look at verse 9. During the night, Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, come over to Macedonia and help us. After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them. So here we go.

Finally, God finally reveals to them the reason why he established their steps and blocked them from going 1 way, because it was it was always to go to troas. This is why they are here. Because what is it they do the next day, if I got verse 11 up? Oh, verse 11. From troas, we put out to sea and sailed straight for Samothrace.

And the next day we went on to Minneapolis, From there, we traveled to Filipide, a Roman colony, and the leading city of that district of Macedonia. So in order to get to Macedonia, They had to sail across the Mediterranean Sea. And in order to sail across the Mediterranean Sea, they had to be in the port city of Troaz. You see what God has done? He wants them to be in Macedonia, and so they take a step towards the province of Asia, and he redirects them.

They try to go to Pithynia, but no, no, no, that's not the plan a of God. So he redirects their steps to troas. Proverbs chapter 16 verse 9, in their hearts humans planned their course, but the lord establishes their steps. That's the theory. You can pass the theory test now, but what about the living component of all of this?

How is that truth that God establish our steps gonna affect you tomorrow, Monday morning at work, wherever you are? How is it going to help you deal with the plans or the choices that you have to make? So I've got 4 lessons, 4 life lessons from the rest of this proverb. And the first 1 for us is be patient. First 32 of Proverbs 16 says better a patient person than a warrior, 1 with self control, then 1 who takes a city.

So when things aren't going to plan, if you are like Paul, in that situation. There are a few different ways you can react, aren't there? You can be like a warrior, and you can just get a warrior mindset you can employ strength, you can employ leverage, and you can just brute force the issue to wherever it is you wanna be, and whatever it is you wanna do. And often you can leave a wake of destruction behind you. And actually, in that way, the Bible says, you can take an entire city.

You could take an entire city By being like a worry, you could. You could go out and get whatever it is you want. You can achieve results by doing things that way. In fact, I knew someone just like this. In my old job again, I used to work with someone who had a she had a 5 year plan for her life.

She knew what job title she wanted to have in 5 years, She knew how much money she wanted to be making in 5 years. She knew what company she wanted to be working in 5 years. And she wasn't gonna let anyone slow her down or stop her. And so during the years that she was there, she would elbow her way to the front and top and climb and climb and climb. And actually, by the end of her time there, She'd burnt almost every bridge with colleagues around her because she'd been like a warrior taking an entire city.

Maybe you're not like that, maybe you haven't got a 5 year plan. But I think we can all be tempted to take shortcuts, can't we? If things aren't going to plan, then we sort of like, shortcut the plan, short circuit the plan. So if you were stuck in traffic, you got a plan to be in church on time, but you're running late. What's the temptation?

But you're feeling the pedal, drive a bit more dangerously, or yell at the driver in front of you. What you're doing, mate? Sunday driver. Oh, I'm a Sunday driver. Get out the road, all that stuff.

If your career isn't going as you'd like, you can be tempted, can't you? To maybe compromise in some areas? Maybe spend less time with the family to try and muscle your way forwards, less time at church. You can maybe try and take credit for things that weren't really you're doing? Maybe you can put blame on other people when really the blame should lie squarely on you.

If you're single and you're praying for a partner, Lord, bless me with a wife, bless me with a husband, but they don't seem to be coming. You can be tempted to compromise, and look outside of the faith. You could figuratively take your city, whatever your city is that you want, that you have ambitions for. You got plans for. You could take it by being a warrior and just applying brute force.

I am gonna get married. I am going to get promoted. I'm going to take my city, but what is better in the eyes of God? Somebody who's patient, somebody who is longsuffering. Maybe even for their whole lives.

Somebody who has self control and uses their strength to restrain themselves and not compromise to see out their plan. I'm sure if Paul and his companions had tried to enter Bithynia, they could have done. They could have said, Lord, stop putting up doors in my way. I'm going to go there. But he didn't.

He was patient, so don't be like a warrior with your plans. Be long suffering, be patient. Don't compromise your self control as time goes on. But next point, keep your appetite. Look at verse 26.

The appetite of laborers works for them, their hunger drives them on. So again, in my old workplace, giving you lots of little insights into my old workplace this morning. In my old workplace, my boss would have a philosophy about work which is this. He would often say, if it hasn't happened yet, it's because nobody wants it to happen. If it hasn't happened yet, nobody wants it to happen.

In his mind, if something hadn't happened in, say, 6 months, it was unlikely to ever happen. It's a little bit like doing my expenses, that sometimes didn't happen. And that's because it's the appetite of laborers that drives them on. In fact, it's true, isn't it? When you have an appetite for something, if you want to see something done, It hardly seems like hard work at all, is it?

To get it done. You just sort of your appetite almost does the work for you. But then, actually, if you've got no appetite for something, it becomes like the dullest thing in the world. You just put it off and put it off and put it off. I keep putting it off.

I mean, when I was a kid, you would never have got me digging in the garden ever. Maybe for like 20 minutes for some pocket money. But when my mate's dad came to me and him and said, I'm gonna landscape the garden in a few weeks, so you can do what you like to it, dig it up, make holes, whatever you want. We were out there for hours digging up this garden. We had mountain bikes, we liked doing jumps, so we made berms, we made little half pipes, we made ramps, we were out there digging for hours, because it was our appetite for the jumps and the dirt biking, the things we could enjoy, that just took us over.

And and and got us going. So half the battle has just been motivated. But once you have it, appetite gets to work in you, doesn't it? And it almost does the work for you. So when it comes to making plans, because we're thinking about plans, when it comes to making plans and things get difficult, and you're having to be patient, you're being longsuffering, you're not compromising, don't lose your appetite.

Don't give up, in other words, because you've had a few closed doors. I mean, think about Paul again. He didn't give up, did he on his mission? I'm gonna preach the gospel. I can't go to province of Asia.

Okay. Fine. I'll try Bithynia. Oh, I can't even go to Bithynia. He could have just thrown his hands up and said, Lord, You probably don't even want me to be a preacher.

It just keeps blocking my way. You've slammed 2 doors in my face. I just give up. Give up on preaching. Give up on you.

It's not working. I'm going back to Jerusalem. Could've said that. But he didn't. Instead, he went through the door that was open, which was down to troas even though he didn't expect to be there.

But his hunger to preach, his hunger to obey the lord, his hunger to keep following God is what drove him on. So I want to ask you, what do you this morning feel like giving up on? We've all got things that we feel like giving up on. Family members. Feel like giving up on a family member?

Or friends telling them the gospel? I've tried for years to tell this friend the gospel. I have a friend right now who's sort of ignoring me. Because I keep trying to tell the gospel to him. Do you feel like giving up on work?

Church. Is church hard? Is the ministry you're serving in hard at the moment? Do you have doors slammed in your face? Don't let a redirected step, extinguish your appetite to serve God.

Don't give up. That's the second point. Third point. This is a big 1. Commit your plans to the lord.

Verse 3, he says, commit to the lord whatever you do. And he will establish your plans. Now, the word commit there actually means to roll. So roll to the lord your plans, in other words, is what it's saying. And I actually find that really helpful.

I think it carries a few really helpful images for us. So The word role is used when rolling up a scroll in scripture. And in Revelation, we see the plan of God written on a scroll. And so if you have a plan, if there's something you've got an ambition for, if you're aiming for something, roll up the scroll of that plan and commit it to God. Present it to him.

Share the plan with him in other words. Get him in on it, roll it out in front of him and say, Lord, this is my plan. This is what I want you to look at. When I was a kid, I wanted a Chinchilla, which is like a big rodent mouse thing. Actually, he's not what I thought it was when I was a kid.

So if I'd got a chinchilla, I would have been horrified. I go, what is this? What is a chinchilla? It is a chinchilla. I actually made a document about Chinchillas that I gave to my parents because I wanted it that bad.

When I say document, It wasn't like a business plan with like a cover letter. It was like 2 pages. 1 page was a pencil sketch drawing of the hutch. Which was like 2 d. Who was going to make that hutch?

I have no idea, but I was like, here's the hutch it can live in. See? It's got a home already. And the other page was just some facts about chinchillas, like how long they live for and what they eat. And so I gave this document to my to my parents and, you know, they they were wise.

They they reestablished my plans, redirected my step and got me a hamster instead. But we have to do the same thing with the lords. We can't just rush off with our plans and try and do them by ourselves, and then expect God to establish them. Without consulting the establishment, the 1 who's on the throne. So I wanna ask you guys, are you is anyone here running off with a plan?

Feel life or for this week, and you haven't yet presented it to God. Unrolled it before him and said, lord, this is my plan. Here it is. Have you shared it with God? Lord, this is what I wanna do.

Are you praying for it regularly? Lord, this is still what I wanna do. Guide me. Bless me. Bless me.

Help me. It's actually, by the way, it's quite a good steer on whether you should have the plan at all if you're willing to bring it to God regularly. Yeah? You can't ever pray things like lord. Help me in my adultery.

You can't pray that to the lord. Or Lord, help me get revenge on my neighbor. You're not going to bring that plan to God, are you? And so it's a good steer. If you're willing to bring it to the Lord, the Holy 1 of Israel, the God of God, The king of kings, lord of lords, you're willing to bring it to him.

It's probably a good marker or not what whether it should be a plan that you have at all. So look, if you have got a good plan, roll it up, present it to the lord, give it to him. In fact, this is what Insight did, this very week, This week that it's just got an insight, the organization that does schools work in in the borough. They had a meeting with local pastors on Tuesday, And they said, Lord, we've got capacity to do more assemblies. Lord, we wanna do more assemblies.

This is our plan. Would you help us? The very next day. Is that right? The very next day, they got an email from a school saying, we'd love you to come in and do some assemblies.

They'd rolled the plan up, presented it to God. And in that case, he established their step in the direction they were hoping to go. Roll is also a helpful word, I think, because it's got motion in it. If you roll something, then actually you're rolling the plan into action. By bringing it to God.

We aren't Christians who just have ideas about stuff and then sit around going, Lord. Here's a fleece, although that's a bible story. But Lord, here's a fleece. Tell me whether it is you want me to do it or not. Actually, I saw I saw a poster online that said a plan without action is just a wish.

And in some ways, it's helpful. Because when we commit things to the lord, we should then get up and go. We should start pushing doors. We should start walking. We should go to the border of Bithynia and try to enter.

Lord, I wanna preach. I'm going to Bithynia. I'm gonna try and enter. Oh, I can't. Okay.

Fine. Go down to troaz. A vision. I see why you bought me to troaz now. But if he'd just stayed in Jerusalem, He would never have had those closed doors to end him up in Trouaz, which is where he needed to be in order to go to Macedonia.

The rudder of a boat is only useful if there's motion if you're in a boat and it's still, the rudder is pathetic, there's nothing. But if the boat is moving, it's amazing what a little turn of that rudder can do to establish the direction of the boat. So bring your foot up. Say, Lord, this is where I'm going. Bring your foot up.

Yeah? Bring it up. And then put it down, and see where the Lord puts it down. And actually, if you roll it to the Lord, it becomes his burden. This is a great point.

This is relieving if you are stressed about decision making and plans. Because you roll it off your shoulders, and you roll it onto the lords. You say, Lord, this is my plan, this is what I wanna do, I'm gonna leave it with you. You're the 1 who establishes, I'm gonna sleep at night. Christian should sleep better than anyone.

Because we should roll our plans to the Lord, and we should trust him with them. Because actually, it's so easy to be overwhelmed, isn't it, by all the things we could I move to this place? Should I get this job? Shall I marry this person? Shall I commit to this ministry?

So I take up those lessons. What school should we put our kids in? Should we even be putting our kids in schools? Should we homeschool? Can be daunting?

Can't it? All of these questions? And actually, I was thinking we can often God God is not in a good position, is he? Because we often want mutually exclusive things. We bring our plans to him and we're like, Lord, I wanna live in this area, but also close to my parents.

I want to have this job that I love, but also I want to commit to 5 ministries in the church. Wanna be a great neighbor to the people on my street, but I also wanna be a good family member to people in my home. And I wanna travel the world whilst doing all these things. And then, Lord has to try and order and establish and direct all of those different plans. It's a little bit like when you arrive at a theme park.

And you want to ride on all the rides at once, but then a sensible person like Kerry takes the map off you and goes, right. Let's establish an order to this. Let's make a plan. Or as I'm just like, she says, no. Let's draw a sensible route.

Let's decide which way our steps should go in. Don't go that way. That's the toilet's bend. Let's go this way. First 3 of Proverbs chapter 16 is really clear.

We commit our plans to the lord, and he is the 1 who establishes them. So that's what we need to be doing. Lord, here are my plans. I'm gonna roll them into action, but you be the 1 who directs where my foot lands. You establish whether it's a success or fail and your will be done.

Fourthly, trust the Lord. Trust the lord. Verse 29 of Proverbs 16 says blessed is the 1 who trusts in the lord. So look, our plans are not always going to go to plan. We've seen that this morning.

Our lives might not turn out how we thought they were gonna turn out. And actually, we might have been incredibly hurt on the journeys that we've been on. We may have been incredibly hurt by some of the things that have happened to us, by the way that people have treated us. Or just by random things that have happened to us. I mean, look, just just this week, there's been another mass shooting in a school in America.

And all the while, this war rages on in Ukraine, week by week, millions are displaced from their homes. You can bet none of those things were in the plans of those people who've been affected by them. But then verse 4 and 5 here, says the Lord works out everything to its proper end, even the wicked for a day of disaster. The lord detests all the proud of heart, be sure of this. They will not go unpunished.

So if you've been hurt by wicked people or proud schemes, We can trust that the lord is going to deal with it. He's gonna speak the gracious words to you in verse 24 here. Which is sweet to your soul and healing to your bones. The word God speaks is healing. And be sure of this, the proverb says, this is certain they will not get away with it.

They will not go unpunished. God isn't just sat passively on his throne. He's a judge. There will be justice. Everything work will be worked out to its proper end, as Proverbs says.

The innocent will be worked out to their proper end. You can trust God with that. The wicked will be worked out to theirs. And that means every step that we take, even the ones that we never intended to happen, the ones that are painful, ones that are difficult, hard, Even those steps are gonna be worked out by the lord. No steps in your life will ever be wasted.

The lord is gonna work in you, sanctifying you, maturing you even through suffering. We must trust the lord when things don't go to to plan. But if nothing that dramatic has happened to you and you're just a little bit appointed with your life, just a bit disappointed, bit meh. My life could be better. Then verse 8 says this, a better a little with righteousness than much gain with injustice.

Better a little with righteousness and much gain. So in other words, if you've got a little yeah? We've all got a little here. But not a lot. And actually, the Lord wants to readjust your perspective slightly.

It's better to have a little with righteousness, in other words, Jesus, who is our righteousness, spend it to have a little with Jesus, with his body, the church, with the hope of heaven and eternal life. It's better to have that than to have an entire city that you took as a warrior, but you abandoned Jesus. And you abandon his righteousness and his church. Just think about that for a minute. What is it that you want?

What is it about your life that you're dissatisfied with? It's better with the little you have now than if you abandoned Christ and his Church and gained the whole world. What you have now is better. Matthew Henry, who's a bible commentator, said this. That which God has given, those smaller will have more inward satisfaction, a better reputation with the wise.

It will last longer and turn into a better account. In the great day. Yeah? So trust the lord. Be patient.

Keep your appetite. Commit your plans to the lord. And very briefly, just finally. I wanna address this question. What about when we fail?

What about when we fail? Because there have been plenty of times in my own life when I haven't committed my plans to the Lord. When I've run off without him, When I've taken steps actually deliberately away from him, what about when we do those things? Well, look at verse 6. Through love and faithfulness, sin is atoned for, through the fear of the lord evil is avoided.

So we've got an encouragement and instruction when we fail. So if you fail, this is for you this morning, I've got an encouragement and an instruction for the encouragement is because every sin is atoned for by the love and faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the 1 who committed himself to the father's plan and walked faithfully to the cross to die for us in. We've sang about that. He was longsuffering, patient when he was insulted.

And mocked. He kept his appetite when his preaching resulted in people turning away from him. He trusted the Lord on the cross. Even with that step, he trusted the lord and said, into your hands, I commit my spirit. And in doing so, he's atoned for in.

He's washed away every step that we've taken in our lives away from God. He's washed us of that evil plan, that mistake. That wrong stumble away from him and he's made us righteous. So if you've come to Christ, your sin has been atoned for by him through the cross. Because he loves you.

It's through love that your sin is atoned for. Not just an obligation, God doesn't do it just because he has to, he loves you. And so he's washed you and put you back on the right step. Walking with Christ. That's the encouragement I've got for you.

If you've taken a wrong step. The instruction in this verse is to avoid repeating the same mistake through the fear of the lord. And in proverbs, that's shorthand for just being wise. Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. So do you want to avoid evil again?

Do you want to avoid making that wrong step again? Be wise, how? How do we do that? Well, it's what we've heard this morning. Keep being patient.

Keep your appetite. Commit your plans to the lord, roll them up, present them to him. And the lord is going to establish your steps, direct your steps, and we can trust him to judge the wicked and heal the broken. Isn't that amazing? In your plans and your plans.

In your heart, you plan, but God establishes your steps. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that we aren't alone in this universe, and we thank you that you aren't distant to us letting us just get on with things. We thank you that you are in sovereign charge of where our feet land when we take steps. We thank you that like a loving father, you help us walk day by day.

In fact, even getting here this morning, Lord, you've helped us to get here. We thank you for that. If either help us to commit our plans to you, to lay them out before you, not to run off without consulting you or requesting your help. Father, I pray for anyone here who's had doors slammed in their faces. Would you help them not to give up on church, on ministry?

On whatever it is that they've set their heart on, that's godly. Help them to keep going. And lord, we pray that we would trust you when things seem difficult and we don't have answers. We praise you that you are the 1 who works out everything. To its final destination, the wicked to theirs, the innocent to theirs.

And we thank you for the lord Jesus Christ. Who's washed us clean of every sin, of every misstep, and made us righteous. Thank you for all of these things in Jesus' name, amen.