Proverbs 16:9 | DiscipleDeck

Bible Commentary

Proverbs 16:9

Human planning is legitimate and good. But sovereignty over the outcome belongs to God alone. This is not a rebuke of planning but a call to hold our plans loosely, trusting that God's direction is wiser than our best ideas. It is one of the most quoted verses in all of Proverbs.

Memory phrase: God directs my steps.

Talk about it: Why is it good to plan but also trust God with the result?

Prayer: God, guide every step I take today.

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More for Proverbs 16:9

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Proverbs 16 — OverviewProverbs 16 · Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole BibleThe Sovereignty of Divine Providence.Proverbs 16 — OverviewProverbs 16 · Little Bible — for children and parentsProverbs 16 stands at the structural heart of the book and is dominated by one towering truth: God is sovereign over all human plans, steps, decisions, and outcomes. The chapter opens and closes with this theme — from…Proverbs 16:1-33Proverbs 16:1-33 · The Pulpit CommentaryEXPOSITION Proverbs 16:4-9Proverbs 16:4-9 · The Pulpit CommentaryThe administration of rewards and punishments I. THE MORAL DESIGNS OF GOD. (Proverbs 16:4.) The creation is teleological; it has a beginning, a process, and an end in view, all determined by the will and wisdom of God.…Proverbs 16:9Proverbs 16:9 · Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole BibleMan is here represented to us, 1. As a reasonable creature, that has the faculty of contriving for himself: His heart devises his way, designs an end, and projects ways and means leading to that end, which the…Proverbs 16:9Proverbs 16:9 · The Pulpit CommentaryA man's heart deviseth his way: but the Lord directeth his steps (Proverbs 16:1). "Man proposes, God disposes" or, as the Germans say, "Der Mensch denkt, Gott lenkt" (comp. Proverbs 20:24). The word rendered "deviseth"…

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