DEC 1 | When Plans A, B, and C Fail: What Proverbs 19:21 Teaches About Trusting God Beyond Your Blueprints
You ever make a five-year plan? I mean a real one—with goals, timelines, maybe even a vision board if you were feeling ambitious. How'd that work out for you?
I'm asking seriously. Think about where you thought you'd be right now and where you actually are. If you're anything like me, there's a gap between those two points. Maybe a canyon.
Here's what nobody tells you when you're young and full of ambition: The Bible never promises that Plan A will work. Or Plan B. Or Plan C. And if you've been taught that enough faith equals guaranteed outcomes—that if you just pray hard enough, your blueprint becomes God's blueprint—I need to gently tell you that's not how this works.
Proverbs 19:21 puts it this way: "Many are the plans in a person's heart, but it is the LORD's purpose that prevails."
That verse has sat differently with me at different stages of life. In my twenties, it sounded like a threat. In my forties, it started to sound like a promise. Now? It sounds like wisdom from someone who actually knows what they're doing—and loves me enough to redirect me when I don't.
Two Ways to Hear This Verse (And One of Them Will Wreck You)
Let's sit with Proverbs 19:21 for a moment, because there are two fundamentally different ways to receive this truth, and your interpretation will shape how you navigate every disappointment, career change, relationship loss, and unexpected detour for the rest of your life.
The Fatalistic Reading
The first way to hear this verse sounds something like: "Your plans don't matter. God's gonna do what God's gonna do. So why even bother trying?"
This is fatalism dressed up in religious language, and it's not what Scripture is teaching. This interpretation leads to passivity, resentment, or both. It makes God into a cosmic bulldozer who doesn't care about your desires, dreams, or agency. That's a devastating misreading of this text and of God's character.
The Liberating Reading
The second way—the way I believe the original Hebrew invites us to hear it—is actually profoundly freeing.
That word "purpose" in Hebrew is 'etsah. And 'etsah doesn't simply mean "plan" the way we might use it casually. When ancient Jews heard this word, they thought of something more substantial—counsel, wisdom, the kind of deep and considered guidance a king would receive before going into battle.
'Etsah is what happens when someone who sees the entire chessboard—not just your three moves ahead, but the whole game—gives you direction. It's not arbitrary. It's not indifferent. It's the wisdom of someone who genuinely knows better because they can see what you can't.
The verse isn't saying your plans are worthless. It's saying your plans are incomplete. You're working with partial information. God isn't.
The Biblical Pattern of Failed Plans
Here's what I've learned, and I learned it the hard way: When Plans A, B, and C fail, that's not necessarily evidence that God has abandoned you. That might actually be evidence that He's rerouting you toward something you couldn't have found on your own.
Think about how many times in Scripture "the plan" fails spectacularly before God's 'etsah emerges.
Joseph: From Favorite Son to Slave to Savior
Joseph's Plan A was straightforward: be his father's favorite, receive the blessing, live comfortably. Instead? His brothers threw him in a pit. Then slavery. Then false accusations. Then prison. Years of what must have felt like divine abandonment.
And then? Second most powerful man in Egypt—positioned exactly where he needed to be to save his entire family from famine. Looking back, Joseph could say to his brothers: "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good" (Genesis 50:20). That's 'etsah in action—God's counsel weaving even betrayal into redemption.
Moses: Forty Years of Preparation He Didn't Sign Up For
Moses' Plan A was to liberate Israel through his own strength and timing. He saw injustice, took matters into his own hands, and killed an Egyptian. Result? He had to flee for his life. Forty years of shepherding sheep in the wilderness followed—forty years that probably felt like failure and irrelevance.
Then God says, "Now you're ready." All those decades weren't wasted. They were preparation. The man who tried to deliver Israel in his own strength needed to become the man who would depend entirely on God's strength.
The Disciples: Expecting a Kingdom, Getting a Cross
Even Jesus' disciples had a plan. They thought they were signing up for a political revolution. They expected thrones, power, Israel restored to its former glory. They probably daydreamed about their cabinet positions in the new kingdom.
Instead, they got a cross. Their leader arrested, beaten, executed. Plan A, B, and C—obliterated in a single weekend.
And then came resurrection. A kingdom far greater than any earthly throne. A mission that would reshape human history. What looked like the ultimate failure became the ultimate victory.
The pattern isn't that our plans succeed. The pattern is that God's 'etsah—His counsel, His purpose—weaves even our failures into something we couldn't have designed ourselves.
What This Doesn't Mean (And What It Does)
I need to be clear about what I'm not saying, because bad theology can do real damage to hurting people.
I'm not saying suffering is secretly good. I'm not offering "Just trust the plan!" as some spiritual bumper sticker that dismisses your pain. Toxic positivity dressed up in Bible verses isn't faith—it's denial.
If you're standing in the rubble of Plan C right now—if you're looking at the pieces of something you worked incredibly hard to build—I'm not asking you to smile and pretend it doesn't hurt. The grief is real. The disappointment is legitimate. God isn't threatened by your honest lament.
But here's what I am saying: Proverbs 19:21 is an invitation to hold your plans loosely. Not because they don't matter. Not because God enjoys watching them crumble. But because there's Someone who sees what you can't see.
And His 'etsah—His deep, wise, seeing-the-whole-chessboard purpose—will prevail. Not to spite you. For you.
Why This Actually Changes Everything
Understanding Proverbs 19:21 correctly doesn't make you passive—it actually makes you more free to act boldly. Here's why:
When you believe every outcome depends entirely on your planning, you carry an impossible weight. Every decision becomes terrifying because you might "miss God's will" or "mess up the plan." You second-guess yourself constantly. Anxiety becomes your constant companion.
But when you understand that God's 'etsah will prevail regardless of your perfect execution? You're suddenly free to take risks, make decisions, and step out in faith—knowing that even your mistakes can't derail God's ultimate purposes for your life.
This isn't an excuse for recklessness or laziness. We're still called to be wise stewards, to plan thoughtfully, to work diligently. Proverbs is full of instructions about wisdom, planning, and preparation. But we hold those plans with open hands, ready for God to redirect when His counsel differs from our blueprints.
The Freedom of Surrender
Counterintuitively, surrender isn't defeat—it's actually the doorway to freedom. When you stop white-knuckling your five-year plan, something shifts. You can enjoy the present instead of anxiously managing the future. You can be curious about unexpected detours instead of devastated by them.
I've noticed that the people who navigate life's disappointments with the most grace aren't the ones who never made plans. They're the ones who learned to hold their plans loosely while trusting deeply.
A Practical Next Step
So here's what I want you to try this week. It's simple, but it's not easy.
One thing. Take whatever plan you're gripping the tightest right now—the one that's keeping you up at night, the one you're white-knuckling—and pray this:
"God, I'm holding this loosely. If this is Your 'etsah, let it happen. If it's not, show me where You're leading instead."
That's it. That's the whole prayer.
You might need to pray it every morning for a while. You might need to pray it multiple times a day when the anxiety creeps back in. That's okay. This isn't about achieving some perfect state of detachment. It's about practicing surrender, one moment at a time.
Looking Forward to Plan D
I don't know what Plan D looks like for you. Neither do you. But the One whose 'etsah prevails? He does.
And in my experience—through career changes I didn't choose, relationships that didn't work out, doors that closed when I was sure they should open—His Plan D is usually something I never would've drawn up myself. Something I eventually couldn't imagine living without.
Maybe you're in that uncomfortable space right now, between the plan that failed and the purpose that hasn't yet emerged. If so, you're in good company. Joseph was there. Moses was there. Every disciple was there that dark Saturday between crucifixion and resurrection.
But Sunday came. It always does.
Trust the One who sees the whole chessboard. His 'etsah will prevail—not to crush your dreams, but to fulfill them in ways you couldn't have imagined.
Your Turn
I'd love to hear from you: What plan have you had to release? What unexpected "Plan D" has God brought into your life? Share in the comments below—your story might be exactly what someone else needs to hear today.
An Invitation to go Deeper….
If today’s message spoke to you, join the FaithLabz 30-Day Prayer Challenge and strengthen your connection with God’s unshakable love. You are never alone—let’s grow together!
