Then Job answered the LORD and said: “I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You. Job 42:1-2
Have you ever overestimated your capacity to accomplish a goal? I know I have far too often, and I imagine most people can sympathize with this unavoidable reality stemming from human limitations. Despite our best intentions and efforts, we often learn we do not have the wherewithal to accomplish what we set out to do. As Robert Burns put it, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” Put another way, “Write your plans in pencil, and give God the eraser.” A popular Yiddish proverb says, “We plan, God laughs.”
The Bible highlights this reality in a host of different ways too. Perhaps the most pointed reminder is in James 4:13-16 where James confronts those who assume they will go to a certain place, have a profitable business venture, and then enjoy the fruits of their labors. The issue is not planning for and seeking to secure one’s needs. Proverbs 6:6-11 encourages industriousness and discourages slothfulness with the example of the ant storing up for her needs when provisions become scarce. Proverbs 10:4 relates laziness with poverty and diligence with prosperity. 2 Thessalonians 3:12 demands Christians earn their own living.
The issue in James is not planning for success, but it is assuming that we control the success or failure of our own ventures. These merchants were leaving God out of their plans and failing to recognize that He supplies seed to the sower (James 4:15-16; 2 Corinthians 9:10). The heart of the issue is not recognizing that the happenings of tomorrow are completely beyond our control (James 4:14). As Peter put it, “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the Lord endures forever” (1 Peter 1:24-25).
Nonetheless, our frailty and finitude have a useful purpose for our lives. In Acts 17:26-28, Paul told the Athenian philosophers that the Creator God set humanity’s limitations in order that we would reach for Him in hopes that we might find Him. This, as all of God’s purposes, is for our benefit as we who suffer from so many inabilities (greatest of all the saving of our souls from sin) must come to Him in whom “…we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).
Jesus made this point plainly after His interaction with the rich young ruler (Matthew 19:16-26; Mark 10:17-27; Luke 18:18-27). After the young ruler went away sorrowful because he clung too tightly to his possessions (Matthew 19:21-22), Jesus revealed the grave danger of material wealth to the soul (Matthew 19:23-24). Shocked by Jesus’ teaching here, the disciples asked Him, “Then who can be saved?” (Matthew 19:25). In response, Jesus brought home the title of this article saying, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26; Mark 10:27; Luke 18:27).
Repeatedly, the Bible sets human frailty in antithesis with God’s infinite power and ability. In Genesis 18:13-14, the Lord called out Sarah for laughing at God’s promise that she would bear Abraham a son. From the human vantage point, this was impossible (Genesis 18:11; cf. Luke 1:37), but even this is not too hard for the Lord. Job replied to God’s lengthy rebuttal of his questioning God’s purposes with the admission that He can do all things and no purpose of His can be thwarted (Job 42:1-2).
The most significant example of the contrast of the God who can with men who cannot is in His plan to redeem us from sin. Repeatedly the book of Acts shows that the Jewish and Gentile rulers who tried to thwart God’s plan of salvation in Jesus inadvertently fulfilled it (Acts 2:22-36; 3:11-18; 4:23-28; 13:26-39). Now you and I can live in the full assurance that there is no condemnation in Christ because the God who can, did! (Romans 8:1-4).