"Commit your works to the Lord"

[Proverbs 16:1-3]

Dear friends, how are you planning your self-management and the remaining years of your life? A few years ago, Elder Park Su-ung, who came to our church to lead a family seminar, shared how he set his plans for self-management and the remainder of his life in his book "Self-Management by Park Su-ung". In the book, he writes: First, when you look at the "2002 Self-Management Chart," the theme of self-management is "Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness" (Matthew 6:33). And the "goal" of self-management is "To grow healthily and in balance in character, life, and ministry according to the image of Jesus Christ, and to bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit, fulfilling God's will" (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24, Galatians 4:19, Joshua 14:6-15).

He also divided self-management into two categories: "Areas of life" and "Ministry". In terms of the areas of life, he divided it into "Spiritual life," "Intellectual life," "Emotional life," "Healthy life," "Family life," "Occupation," "Church life," and "Finances." In terms of ministry, he divided it into areas such as JAMA (Global Jesus Awakening Movement), KOSTA (Global Student Conference), CCC (Campus Crusade for Christ), Family Ministry, and Christ’s Ambassador.

In particular, looking at his spiritual life, he set as goals: "To walk with God in His Word at every moment," "To make daily devotional time (QT) a habit and to cultivate fellowship with God," "To attend early morning prayer meetings and kneel before God (Knee-mail)," and "To fill my mind with the Word of God, as stated in Psalm 119:9-11." For his "Healthy life," his goals included: "To maintain a controlled diet to avoid gaining weight, to exercise once a week by playing golf, and to live a disciplined life." For his "Occupation," his goals included: "To switch to part-time work at the hospital, to yield to my colleagues and set an example as a Christian, to proclaim the gospel as a praising doctor, and to become a Peacemaker at work."

Additionally, in his "Future Resume," he made plans from 1998 (at the age of 54) to 2023 (at the age of 79). I assume that he is now nearly in his 70s, and looking at his plans starting from age 60 (2004), he wrote: “Retire from the hospital,” “Completely pay off the mortgage for the house,” “Help my youngest son and daughter-in-law become independent by marriage,” and “Expand my ministry globally.” For the years 2006-2010 (ages 62-66), he wrote: “Join in the ministry work of younger generations,” “Be faithful to the new vision God gives me.” Isn’t that amazing? Being faithful to the new vision that God gives in your early 60s—doesn’t that challenge us? In his 2011-2020 plans (ages 67-76), he wrote: “Mentor and collaborate with younger generations,” and “Focus on being conformed to the image of Christ in my whole being.” His future plans beyond that include: “Publish my fourth book to conclude my life,” “Fulfill the vision written in my future resume and bring glory to God,” and “Prepare for entry into heaven.” How wonderful is that as a future plan? We too can be challenged to write our own "Self-Management Chart" and "Future Resume" from today onward!

In today’s passage, Proverbs 16:3, the Bible says: “Commit your works to the Lord, and your plans will be established.” Based on this verse, I want to meditate on today’s passage under the title “Commit your works to the Lord” and draw three lessons that God is teaching us.

First, we must make plans with our heart.

Look at Proverbs 16:1: "The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord." The first thing we need to consider here is the word "plans." This word is in the plural form, meaning "plans" or "considerations," referring to organized, purposeful, and arranged ideas concerning future actions [plans, considerations, i.e., an orderly, purposed, arrangement of ideas with regard to future actions (Swanson)].

What do you think? Do we have organized, purposeful, and arranged ideas in our hearts regarding future actions, i.e., plans for the future? I think this verse 1 could be easily misunderstood. When we read "The plans of the heart belong to man...", one might think, "Ah, since ultimately only God's sovereign will will be fulfilled, there's no need to make life plans." But is that really what this verse is saying? No. What we need to clearly understand is that in the tension between God’s sovereignty and our human responsibility, we must humbly and faithfully fulfill our responsibilities.

For example, a long time ago, a brother said to me, "If God has already chosen and predestined certain people in His sovereignty, then there is no need to evangelize." What do you think of this statement? This kind of statement shows a misunderstanding of the tension between God's sovereignty and our responsibility to evangelize (spread the gospel). Jesus’ command is to spread the gospel. Our responsibility is to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ. Who are the souls God has chosen and who are not is not for us to decide. Such thinking is very dangerous. I believe it challenges the sovereignty of God.

In today’s passage, Proverbs 16:1, the Bible is not saying, "You don’t need to make plans because the response comes from the Lord." Rather, the Bible is encouraging us to make plans with our heart. The reason for this is that it is our responsibility as human beings. However, there is something we must keep in mind when making plans. This is the message from Proverbs 19:21: "Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails." When we make many plans in our hearts, we must pursue only God's will. We must make our future life plans with a heart that earnestly desires only God’s will to be fulfilled. For example, just like Elder Park Su-ung's theme for self-management is "Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness," when making many plans for life, we should first think about God's kingdom and His righteousness. And at times when we do not know what God's will is, we must pray like Jesus, "Not my will, but Yours be done," and continue making our plans with that mindset. Through our plans, we earnestly wish that only God’s will will be fulfilled.

Second, we must check whether the motivation of our heart is right in God’s sight.

Look at Proverbs 16:2: "All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight, but the Lord weighs the spirits." Since we, as humans, cannot see the heart of others, we can only judge based on their outward appearance. The Bible gives us a good example of this in 1 Samuel 16:7: "But the Lord said to Samuel, 'Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.'" As we already know, God rejected Saul from becoming the king of Israel and chose one of the sons of Jesse (1 Samuel 16:1). When Samuel saw Jesse’s son Eliab, he thought to himself, “Surely the Lord's anointed is before him” (1 Samuel 16:6). At that moment, God spoke the word in verse 7. Even Samuel judged by the outward appearance of Eliab. Therefore, when we judge people only by their outward appearance, the probability of being wrong is very high. The reason for this is that we, as humans, can have impure motives in our hearts, yet still act correctly (or at least appear to do so) outwardly.

In today's passage, Proverbs 16:2 says, "All the ways of a man are clean in his own sight..." The word "clean" here means "without flaw" (Swanson). In other words, our natural instinct is to think that our actions are beyond reproach, that we are right in our own eyes. So, when someone points out our faults (flaws), we not only deny them but get upset and even defend ourselves to the point of anger, as if we are never wrong. In fact, there are countless times when even when God points out our mistakes through Scripture, we fail to recognize them and wonder, "What did I do wrong?"

One example of this is in the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi. In Malachi 1:6-7, God says to the priests of Israel, "A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My reverence? Says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests who despise My name. Yet you say, ‘In what way have we despised Your name?’ You offer defiled food on My altar, and you say, ‘In what way have we defiled You?’ By saying, 'The table of the Lord is contemptible.'"

God clearly tells the priests of Israel, "O priests who despise My name," yet the priests reply, "In what way have we despised Your name?" (verse 6). God also says they offered defiled food on His altar, but the priests say, "In what way have we defiled You?" (verse 7). In the end, the priests of Israel firmly believed that, in their own eyes, they had not despised God or defiled His name.

Why did the priests of Israel come to this point? I believe the root cause is found in Malachi 1:2: "I have loved you, says the Lord. Yet you say, 'In what way have You loved us?'" In other words, they had not realized (or experienced) God's love, and therefore, they thought there was no fault in themselves.

Dear brothers and sisters, thinking that our actions are right or clean just because we believe so is very dangerous. The danger is that we may be sinning against God while not recognizing it as sin. Thus, we will continue to commit those same sins before God, thinking they are not sins. Instead, we need to ask ourselves, not "What do I think of my actions?" but "What does God think of my actions?" The reason is that God looks at our hearts (1 Samuel 16:7). The reason is that God examines our spirits (Proverbs 16:2).

Dear friends, God examines our motivations. He knows whether what we plan in our hearts is truly pursuing His will and His glory, or if our motivations are impure, and we are only outwardly pretending to pursue His will and glory. God knows everything. Therefore, we should also listen carefully to what Proverbs 21:2 says: "Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the spirits."

Lastly, thirdly, we must commit our works to God.

Let’s look at today’s passage, Proverbs 16:3: "Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established." The Hebrew word for "commit" here means "to roll away" or "to throw away" (roll). In other words, it means to commit our works to God with a sincere and earnest heart, as if we are rolling away a stone (Swanson). The problem, however, is that often after we pray and commit our works to God, we find ourselves worrying and being anxious again. This is like rolling away a stone and then going back to look for it. Think about it: when we have rolled away the stone, it means it is no longer in our hands. In the same way, when we commit our works to God in prayer, it means we must release our control, just as we would stop holding the stone. However, if we continue to worry and be anxious about the very thing we committed to God in prayer, then we have not fully entrusted it to Him. The term "roll away" also appears in Psalms 22:8 and 37:5: "He trusted in the Lord, let Him deliver him; let Him rescue him, because He delights in him" (Psalm 22:8), "Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass" (Psalm 37:5). The psalmist uses the words "commit" alongside "trust" and "entrust." This means that when we commit our way to God, we are also trusting and entrusting ourselves to Him.

Dear friends, we must commit our way to God. We must entrust and rely on Him. Why? The reason is found in Proverbs 16:9: "A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." The reason we must commit our way to God is because He is the one who guides our steps. Additionally, the reason is found in Proverbs 19:21: "There are many plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that will stand." Even though we may have many plans in our hearts, it is God's will that will ultimately prevail, and therefore we must commit those plans to Him. We must commit them with the same heart as Jesus had in His prayer at Gethsemane: "Not as I will, but as You will" (Matthew 26:39). When we do so, God will bring to pass the plans of our hearts (Psalm 37:5).

I would like to conclude this meditation. Dear friends, we must plan for the remainder of our lives. But as we plan, we must do so with a heart that seeks God’s will. We must lay down our own will and plan our lives with the mindset of seeking His will. The reason for this is that God examines the motivations of our hearts. And we must commit all of our heart's plans completely to Him. The reason is that only God's will will stand firm. May it be God's will that is accomplished through our lives.