The Most Important Criterion for Practical and Effective Planning

Daily Devotional – Sunday, January 2, 2022

Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass.

Psalms 37:5 (NKJV)

One of the most painful experiences for me is accepting that I have failed. This is especially true when I have invested time, money and other resources. I start wishing I had not started the project in the first place.

However, when I acknowledge I am the chief contributor to my undesirable situation, I face my failure and analyze it critically. A number of Bible verses help me understand why my projects fail and how I can avoid similar results in future.

Putting the Essential Elements in Place

Solomon has useful advice on how one should prepare to settle down in life:

Get your fields ready and plant your crops before starting a home. (Proverbs 24:27, Contemporary English Version)

Here is Jesus’ counsel for averting failure in our projects:

For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it, lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’? (Luke 14:28-31, NKJV).

These passages emphasize the importance of generating or having enough income or resources before building a home, business premise or other types of projects.

Consulting the Experts

The Bible also urges us to seek guidance before implementing our plans as the following verses reveal:

Without counsel, plans go awry, but in the multitude of counselors they are established. (Proverbs 15:22, NKJV).

Plans are established by counsel; by wise counsel wage war. (Proverbs 20:18, NKJV).

The Most Important Criterion for Success

What if I have good plans, adequate finances, and I have consulted experts, but my plans and projects still fail? Is there another criterion I might have skipped?

I admit that in most cases, when I fail, there is a critical requirement I have skipped. It is the most important, without which the best plans, adequate finances, and experts’ counsel are useless.

The following verses contain this principle:

Commit your way to the LORD, Trust also in Him, And He shall bring it to pass. (Psalms 37:5, NKJV).

A man’s heart plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps. (Proverbs 16:9, NKJV).

But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. (Matthew 6:33, NKJV).

If Your Presence Does Not God With Me

The first and most important criterion for success in all our plans and projects is to ensure God approves everything we set our minds to do. Our plans should not contravene God’s will.

We should never invest our money, time and effort on plans, projects, activities or relationships that we cannot invite God to bless. Like Moses, we must tell God, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.” (Exodus 33:15, NKJV).

As you set and refine your New Year Resolutions, start by ensuring they are in tandem with God’s will. Seek for God’s approval. Do not proceed until you are sure God is with you.

Father, I commit all my New Year plans to you. May Your Presence be with me in everything You have allowed me to do.