Proverbs 16:1-16: a reflection

1The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the LORD. 2All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes, but the LORD weighs the motives. 3Commit your deeds to the LORD, and your plans shall succeed. 4The LORD has made everything for its own end— yes, even the wicked for the day of evil. 5Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD; they shall certainly not be unpunished. 6By mercy and truth iniquity is atoned for. By the fear of the LORD men depart from evil. 7When a man’s ways please the LORD, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him. 8Better is a little with righteousness, than great revenues with injustice. 9A man’s heart plans his course, but the LORD directs his steps. 10Inspired judgments are on the lips of the king. He shall not betray his mouth. 11Honest balances and scales are the LORD’s; all the weights in the bag are his work. 12It is an abomination for kings to do wrong, for the throne is established by righteousness. 13Righteous lips are the delight of kings. They value one who speaks the truth. 14The king’s wrath is a messenger of death, but a wise man will pacify it. 15In the light of the king’s face is life. His favor is like a cloud of the spring rain. 16How much better it is to get wisdom than gold! Yes, to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.

This chapter of Proverbs opens with a cluster of sayings about our plans and God's oversight of them. All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes, it says, but the LORD weighs the motives; and, most invitingly, commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established. There is both a warning and an encouragement here about how we hold our plans.

The warning is that God sees deeper than we do. Our ways look clean and well-justified in our own eyes; we are experts at making our plans and motives look good to ourselves. But the LORD weighs the heart, sees the actual motive underneath the respectable surface. That should keep us humble and honest about why we really do what we do.

And the encouragement is the invitation: commit your work to the LORD. Not clutch it anxiously, not carry it alone, not merely inform God of your finished plans, but genuinely commit it, hand it over, entrust your work and your plans to him, and, the proverb promises, they will be established. There is a settledness that comes from committing what you are doing to God rather than gripping it in your own anxious hands. It does not mean everything goes as you drew it up; it means you have placed it in the hands of the One who directs steps. What plans and work are you gripping anxiously? Commit them to the Lord, honestly, motives and all, and let him establish them.

Lord, you weigh the heart and see the true motives beneath my respectable plans; keep me humble and honest about why I really do what I do. And teach me to commit my work to you, not to grip it anxiously or carry it alone, but genuinely to hand it over. What I am clutching, help me entrust to you, and establish it according to your good purpose.