Proverbs 16:9 Commentary and Bible Study

Planning that does not take into account what God wants is vain and comes to nothing. If we ignore him, he watches us working things out in great detail, but he knows it is all going to come to nothing, because a small intervention on his part will upset all our well laid plans. You worked it all out skilfully, yes, but you didn’t bring the Lord into your plans. Are we being taught that we should not think at all about what we are going to do or consider the practical steps we must take? No, we must live responsibly; we must provide for our families, and give thought to all aspects of our lives, but we must do it as those who are under the Lordship of Christ, not as free agents. We must bring our major decisions to him in prayer, which means we think carefully about the different possible paths we face, and whether one or another would make it easier for us to obey our God. We must not set him aside because we want something which we know he forbids.Ireland has recently had a referendum on abortion. The nation voted overwhelmingly to overturn the current restrictions. They voted to reject God’s standards over their lives and to make their own choices in spite of the sixth commandment which forbids murder. Substantial numbers of women express relief at the removal of what caused them to feel such shame – that is the consensus opinion, up till now, that abortion is wrong. They wish to cast that shame as something unreasonable, but it originates from the voice of conscience within. The referendum result has caused them such joy and celebration because it overturns the verdict of conscience. Though they will not admit it, it is conscience that gives them such pain and is so powerful a voice within them, but to think that conscience can be abolished by a vote of the people is another delusion. They will find that conscience still has a voice within them and that any change in the law has done nothing to silence it, because conscience comes from the law of God written on the heart which can be suppressed but not silenced altogether.