Plans

And the Prophet spake unto Hezamicha saying, "Thus saith the LORD, 'Thou shalt form a six month plan, set a five year goal, and open a Roth IRA. Thusly shall I bless you and your children all the days of your life, if you do these things in My name. And in your coming out and going in you shall say, "Thus has the LORD instucted me to plan according to the word He gave to me saying, 'Plan in My name.'"'" Hezamicha 9:12

Okay, so that's not exactly the inspired Word of God. But has anyone else wondered how exactly this is supposed to work? And by "this" of course I mean "living like a responsible adult." It's a topic that has been brought up recently by more than one of my mentors and counselors, so it's got the wheels turning in my head. How does God expect us to go about planning for the furture? On the one hand, God has provided each of us with rational thought and wisdom, which He expects us to use. And on the other, there's the idea of living by faith and trusting God to guide and provide. I think I'm beginning to see that the trick is to learn that they don't really oppose one another.

Now I don't yet have a lot of elloquent thoughts on the theological implications of various arguments, but I thought I'd throw this one out there to see what y'all think. As Jessica and I continue to pray for the Lord's guidance in certain situations (the most obvious of which is the fact that we're currently 10,000 miles from home) I think that He is guiding us as we plan in various ways. But one of the main questions is still, "Exactly how far ahead does He expect us to plan?" I don't know. Who does?