Proverbs 19:21 Commentary and Bible Study

The verse contrasts the many diverse thoughts that enter into the heart of man – what he is going to do; what will happen in the world – with the single stable purpose of the Lord. Man’s intentions are based on incomplete understanding of the situation, limited power to bring them about, imperfect knowledge of the future, and in some cases a hostility to the divine plan. God’s purposes are based on perfect knowledge of past, present, and future and unlimited power to execute his will. This is about the stability of God’s predestinating will, which makes all things to be the servants of his will, both things done for him and things done against him. There is an asymmetry about this so that Paul can say, ‘We can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth’ (2 Corinthians 13:8). If we try to work against the Lord and frustrate his purposes, he will surround us with his knowledge and turn our acts of evil into the means of fulfilling his plan. But if we seek to please God and advance his cause, we will be elevated into the position of highest privilege as co-workers with God. Either way we will serve him. When Satan makes God his enemy and tries to overturn his government of all things, he ends up being the most frustrated being in the universe, for even he is made a servant of his own destruction.This truth ought to modify the way we think. It cannot take away the fact that we have many limitations, and we cannot avoid trying to plan for the future to the best of our ability, but we can subdue our inflated overconfidence about the quality of our decisions, and we can approach the future with a much great humility before God. It is his future not ours, and since he alone knows what will take place, we ought to approach each day with reliance upon him and seek his will for our lives. We should realise that we are accountable to him for every movement of our hearts, and we should accept his discipline without resentment or rebellion. We must be constantly in prayer to God that he should make our way straight and deliver us from the snares that entrap many of those around us.In the context of receiving correction, the lesson is that to make ourselves correctable and to profit from life, we need to have a more modest estimate of what we can do without God, and we need to expect to be constantly corrected because of our limited knowledge.