Archive for September, 2008
Proverbs: Thoughts, Work, and Plans
Although not known for absolute certain, Proverbs is said to have been written by the wisest of kings, King Solomon. As part of this blog, I include thoughts and meditations on Proverbs that bring out key concepts towards living a life of leadership and success in this world.
For myself, I know I am constantly battling with, “What are my plans and what are *my* ideas. How will I succeed in this world?”
These three Proverbs have been impactful for me in the right emotional and mental posture and discipline:
“We can gather our thoughts, but the LORD gives the right answer.” Proverbs 16:1
“Commit your work to the LORD, and then your plans will succeed.” Proverbs 16:3
“We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps.”
Proverbs 16:9
These are pretty self-explanatory, pretty much saying the same thing. The nuances play out in how one practices them.
The way I am trying to go about executing these:
Allow God as part of the Planning Session
“Gathering thoughts” is the planning of all the ideas and thoughts that come throughout the day or through discplined planning. What would it be like to have a brain-storm session with God in the mix, to ask him, “What is the right answer?” Where should I focus? Should this be in high-tech? Do I want something that will give me flexibility in work and life? Is it worth spending my savings on it?
Planning is Important, allow God to help us execute and prioritize
Notice how the brainstorming and planning is still something that we do. It isn’t all about letting God tell us what to do and we follow blindly.
There needs to be planning, a desire of where one wants to go — as done in the first part with God providing the right answer.
Then once we have plans, the goal-making process usually involves the specific steps and the sequence of how to get there. It’s more tactical. I think this part involves letting go and trusting God, because “the LORD *determines* our steps.”
This part is really asking and being guided and is the hardest part to do when one wants to be productive and go-go. But getting the first part right is so important…because if the planning and “gathering thoughts” stage didn’t include God….”determines our steps” may not be where we think we are going!
Execution as Worship
Do the things as if doing them unto God, not unto man. To give one’s work, committing it to God by trusting him and doing it in His name, is a form of worship and is critical to the success of your plans. Is it better to succeed in a God-formed planned that isn’t 100% yours, or to have 100% of a plan without God’s success?
David’s Enemy, Saul: a Cautionary Tale
While this blog is intended to focus on the lives and insights of King David and King Solomon to help men understand how to live under God’s Kingship and, in turn, release their own “king within” who dwells within, I wanted to look at Saul, the contrast and antagonist in the story of David.
It’s a cautionary tale. And it’s one that I, in the moment, need to take heart.
I’ve been trying to get the third company off the ground and I am often distracted, unfocused, and disheartened by the greater successes and fortune of others. For other people, it seems that much easier for them, whether by sheer talent, luck, or circumstance.
It almost can become a wrestling within, and I have turned to writing this blog as a way to see direction, crystalize God’s will, and draw strength and wisdom from studying the lives of these two men.
David, in some ways, is defined in his early days as much by his own attributes as in opposition to Saul.
After David defeated the Goliath, the women sang:
“Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands!”
This made Saul very angry. “What’s this?” he said. “They credit David with ten thousands and me with only thousands. Next they’ll be making him their king!” So from that time on Saul kept a jealous eye on David.
The very next day, in fact, a tormenting spirit from God overwhelmed Saul, and he began to rave like a madman.
1 Samuel 18:7-10
King Saul was, in many ways, already what David would become. Like David, Saul had been annointed king by the prophet Samuel, and defeated his enemies with ease with God behind him.
But now, what has happened?
His own success, because it has been eclipsed by David’s, lead him to be tormented.
When reading about Saul, it is so clear that part of his downfall comes from his jealousy of David. But it happens.
First, Saul did in fact break promises with God. This was a precursor to his downfall. It wasn’t what David did alone, but what Saul himself held in his heart and his attitude towards God.
So before I can fully take on the posture of grumbling disappointment, I need to spend time to see and repent and change the ways that disappoint God.
God tells Saul to go and completely destroy the Amalekite nation. Instead, Saul did something different:
“Saul and his men spared Agag’s (king of the Amalekites) life and kept the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs — everything, in fact, that appealed to them. They destroyed only what was worthless or of poor quality.”
1 Samuel 15: 9
In other words, they got to pick and choose which part of God’s command to follow. They kept for themselves — excluded from God’s specific instruction — “everything, in fact, that appealed to them.”
God’s commands aren’t easy for me to follow. Forgive those who have wronged me; bless those who have cursed me. Spend time ministering to the poor. Focus all thoughts on God and trusting him.
But I don’t. The butthead who pissed me off by his outburst based on misunderstanding instructions I gave still pisses me off. My worries about how and where I will ever achieve my dreams are not trusting God — either with the timing, outcome, or the actual dreams themselves. And how can I have time ministering to the poor when I hardly have time to find the resources to get the company going?
Jesus’ sacrifice saves us from needing to live in accordance to rules like sacrificing calves to God, but the principle of complete and total obedience isn’t that far off.
If I want to pattern my life more after David, I should make sure I’m not following the way of Saul.
And, frankly, in the sense that I, too, pick and choose, follow God in the ways and aspects that appeal to me — I guess I am.
And in that sense, for the “David’s” around me — whether they acknowledge God in their lives or not — to look upon them jealously without correcting these facets of my own self is to invite the same torment as Saul.
