And in this place, I will make a void the plans of Judah and Jerusalem; and will cause their people to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their life.
– Jeremiah 19:7
Did you hear that phrase at the beginning of that verse? And in this place, God says to his people, “I will make void their plans.” God has power to totally void out our plans. We can make plans, devise plans, what we think would be good, and God has power to totally make them void. To change them. To turn them upside down.
Jeremiah 19:7 urges us to submit our plans to the Lord.
So doesn’t this verse just shout to you and me? Submit your plans to the Lord. Surrender your plans to the Lord. Look to the Lord, as you make plans and realize that any plans you ever make, are ultimately in the Lord’s hands.
This is James 4. “Come on you who say, today or tomorrow, we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit. Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? You’re a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast in your arrogance and all such boasting is evil.”
Hear what the word of God is saying; Old Testament, New Testament. Jeremiah. James. Your life is in God’s hands. Your plans are in God’s hands. So let’s speak the way James tells us to speak here.
Lord willing, we will do this tomorrow, we will do that next week, next month, next year. Lord willing. Always reminding ourselves, that all of our plans are in the Lord’s hands, which should lead us to a humility in all of life, not the kind of arrogance that James and Jeremiah are both warning us against, that thinks we are in control. That what we plan we will accomplish, when the reality is, the Lord can make our plans void in an instant and he oftentimes turns our plans upside down.
Jeremiah 19:7 challenges us to be humble as we make plans in this world.
So God, we pray, help us to live humbly, as we make plans in this world. God, help us to make wise plans. Help us to think wisely about our lives and what you’re calling us to do and how you’re calling us to live. Lord, help us to make wise plans. Help us to make plans that align with your Word. And at the same time, to trust in you with those plans… To trust in you with every detail to come in our lives, and to know that you hold our times, our plans in your hands.
And we pray, oh God, that you would foil, and make void, any plans we make that go against your Word God. That you would keep us from planning in any way that goes against the leadership of your Spirit and your Word.
Prayer for the Shawiya Berber People
And God, help us to make plans that accord with your Word and your will. And to trust you, as we walk through life, and carry out those plans to trust you… To lead and guide and redirect us as you will… According to your wisdom and your power and your love for us, for people around us, for the world.
Oh God, we pray for the spread of your love in the world. For the spread of the gospel… Specifically to the Shawiya Berber people of North Africa and spread through even parts of Europe now. For 2.7 million of them who have little to no knowledge of how you planned the crucifixion of your son, for our salvation.
God, we pray that the Shawiya Berber would be reached with the good news of your grace, in Jesus. And God, we pray that you would align our plans and our lives on a daily basis… To align with your plan, to see disciples made in all the nations. God help us to live for that plan that you have revealed in your Word. We pray all this in Jesus’ name, according to Jeremiah 19:7. Amen.
David Platt serves as a Lead Pastor for McLean Bible Church. He is also the Founder of Radical, an organization that makes Jesus known among the nations.
David received his B.A. from the University of Georgia and M.Div., Th.M., and Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. Some of his published works include Radical, Radical Together, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Don’t Hold Back, and How to Read the Bible.
He lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area with his wife and children.
