Listen…Plan
By
Lexi Ellis
“Good
friend, take to heart what I’m telling you; collect my counsels and guard them
with your life. Tune your ears to the world of Wisdom; set your heart on a life
of Understanding.” Proverbs 2:1 (MSG)
I pass it every day on
my way to work: suited women and men sitting in fancy chairs. And on this
billboard, in large letters it reads, “Before we plan, we listen.” The
billboard is for a law firm. From a marketing standpoint, it employs the
powerful tactic of appealing to the innate desire to be listened to. Stephen
Covey, in Seven Habits of Highly
Effective People, addresses this art of truly listening rather than just
hearing.(1)
Despite the humanistic
and marketing draw, I realized this phrase is one applicable to my relationship
with God. How often have I planned and forgotten that imperative first step of
listening to God? How often I stress and schedule and skip being still, or
asking the Holy Spirit for guidance, or reading His Word to allow Him to speak
to me.
This is hard for me. I
am a planner. I loved the planning part of my wedding; I jump on a chance to
plan our vacations; I think and prepare for my students’ learning each day. I
thrive on the planning. And I do work on truly listening to others. Yet, it’s
so hard to listen first to God, then submit to His plan.
There are countless
biblical examples of the essential “listen…then plan.” Scripture is filled with
men and women who chose to stop, take time to pray, and listen to God’s
direction before planning. And Scripture is equally filled with those who chose
to go with their own self-sufficient planning, and we’re able to learn from the
havoc and consequences that resulted.
The prophet Isaiah
wrote, “The Lord God has given me the tongue of those who are taught, that I
may know how to sustain with a word him who is weary. Morning by morning He
awakens; He awakens my ear to hear…The Lord God has opened my ear.” (2)
God has an amazing plan
when we choose to listen to His way before making our own plans. God has
incredible things when He has our ear to hear. God does remarkable work in our
lives and advances His Kingdom when we don’t jump straight to planning without
first listening.
I pass it every day on
the way to work. “Before we plan, we listen.” May that be true of us today and
every day.
GOING DEEPER:
GOING DEEPER:
1. What parts of your
life do you need to surrender, lay in front of the Lord, and listen to Him before you continue planning?
FURTHER READING:
(1) Stephen Covey’s chapter “Habit 5:
Seek First to Understand, then be Understood” in The Seven Habits of Highly
Effective People. ©1989 Running Press.
(2) Isaiah 50:4-5
(ESV) Lexi recently married Andrew, serves with Children’s Ministries at Oakwood, and is a fourth grade teacher at Lake Country Christian Academy.
