My dear readers,

Man may weave, but God will sieve

Proverbs 16:9: “A man's heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps.”

When man plans good things that are according to God’s will, there is no issue with us seeing the hand of God. However, when the wicked plans evil and succeeds in hurting God’s work and God's children, we struggle to see the hand of God. As a result, we murmur, thus sinning against God. This lack of faith is addressed by the LORD in Proverbs 16:9. This verse is understood by some to mean “man proposes but God disposes.”

But the word “deviseth” is more than just “proposes”. It means to carefully plan something, like a weaver carefully weaving a designed tapestry or carpet. It also carries the idea of plaiting or interpenetrating. This verb emphasizes a carefully considered plan, not an afterthought action. Many powerful men like our present day G7 leaders plot and plan on a global scale what they believe to be for the welfare of the lives of 7 billion plus people. From global to minute decisions that man may weave to their own thinking and sinful hearts’ desires, these will all come to nought. But it is certain that whatever man will accomplish, albeit without their wilful obedience, is the will of the God of the Bible, the LORD! They may plan the direction of what they wish to accomplish, but the LORD is the One who directs their steps. From the way, i.e. the well-trodden path, to every step they take, the will of God will be accomplished, not man’s. Every step taken determines the path and ultimately the goal ordained by the LORD.

This is the greatness of the God of heaven and earth. Whether the macro or the micro aspects of every believer’s life, know this powerful truth that takes place from the beginning to the end of your life of service to Christ till you arrive home in glory. There is absolutely nothing anyone can do to side-track your heavenly Father’s care and love for you. His protective care includes His daily providential provision and supply of all He knows you need to grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord. We need to look up and trust instead of looking down and worry. Evil men with their evil deeds will abound in these last days. But when evil abounds, grace and God's mercies abound even more.

Evil deeds done out of the spur of the moment are not as deadly and deceptive as those that are carefully planned and executed. Hitler and his henchmen carefully planned their execution of millions of Jews and those who they viewed were not according to their Aryan theory of a super race. Hundreds of years before Hitler, Haman the Agagite planned genocide simply because his inflated pride was grievously hurt, in his opinion. A faithful Jew named Mordecai chose to obey God rather than man and refused to bow in worship to him. Even though all around Haman did so, it was not enough for Haman. He wanted Mordecai to bow; but Mordecai refused to do so because of his faith in the LORD. Haman deceived the king of Persia into endorsing a decree to kill all the Jews in the 127 provinces of the vast Persian Empire. If Haman had succeeded, God’s plan of salvation would have been destroyed, for the Davidic messianic line would have been severed. Haman wove an evil plan but God intervened and sieved it and Haman was killed and the Jews were saved and God’s plan to save the world remained on track, to His glory.

On a personal level, we have young Joseph at the age of 17 who was sold as a slave to Potiphar an Egyptian. In his time as a slave Joseph learned to trust in the Lord. Then Potiphar’s wife seduced him, but Joseph refused to sin against his LORD. He was cast into prison by Potiphar because of his wife’s lies that Joseph had attacked her. At the age of 30, while he languished in prison the LORD brought Joseph out of prison by giving Pharaoh a dream that no one could interpret, except Joseph. Through Joseph, the LORD brought Jacob and his whole family into Egypt. For the next 430 years, the LORD turned the family of Jacob that numbered 75 into more than 2 million Israelites.

We have the example of Moses who needed to be trained by the LORD to be emptied of the self-confidence and pride that he learned in the palace as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. The murderous rage of Pharaoh, who wanted to kill Moses because Moses tried to deliver Israel out of Egypt by killing an Egyptian who bullied an Israelite, was used by the LORD to drive Moses out of Egypt into the wilderness of Midian. It was in this back part of the wilderness that the LORD shaped and prepared Moses for 40 years to take His people out of Egypt. David was called by the LORD to be the next king of Israel, but he was not ready to take the throne. The LORD prepared him through the murderous jealousy of King Saul who refused to submit to God’s will when God rejected him as king because of his unrepentant heart. David lived like a fugitive. He was hunted like a wild animal. Those were the best spiritual times in David’s life, for we can read about his close walk with the LORD in the psalms. The training was completed when the LORD made him king at the age of 30. King Josiah was told by God that he would not see the destruction of Jerusalem in his lifetime. Pharaoh passed through Judah on his way to battle up north and King Josiah confronted him even though Pharaoh told him not to, for he would be meddling with God’s will. King Josiah did not listen and was killed in battle. It was God’s will for King Josiah to finish his race at the hand of Pharaoh.

There are millions of examples throughout the history of the church where powerful men thought they could outwit God by hurting and killing God’s faithful children. Not one has succeeded. Every single one of them devised his evil ways but the LORD directed his steps. Even when thousands of God's servants were martyred for their faith, their martyrdom was the day when all of them were called home to glory, exactly according to God’s plan for His children. The outcome will always be such that even the wrath of evil men will praise the LORD. Psalm 76:10: “Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.” Man may weave their evil plans but the LORD will surely sieve them out and permit only that which will accomplish His holy will, especially in the lives of all His faithful children. Amen.