Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

Think about a challenge you’re facing right now.

Maybe it’s the anxiety of a new season starting — school, a job change, a move. Maybe it’s something at work that’s been weighing on you. Maybe it’s a relationship, your finances, or your health.

Got it in your mind?

Now ask yourself: how have you tried to fix it?

Most of us fall into one of three responses. We pray. We plan. Or we run — which really just means we do nothing and hope it goes away.

I have found that in a lot of Christian circles, prayer and planning get treated like opposites, like you have to pick a side. You’re either “a planner” or “a pray-er,” and your personality decides which one. Many of us will often fall into one category or another.

But prayer and planning aren’t in competition. They work together.

And I think understanding how might be the key to actually living out what you feel called to do.

It might surprise you how much Scripture has to say about planning, not just praying. The book of Proverbs — written by Solomon, widely regarded as the wisest man who ever lived — returns to this theme again and again:

• “Where there is no guidance, the people fall; but in abundance of counselors, there is victory.” (Proverbs 11:14)
• “A wise man thinks ahead; a fool doesn’t, and even brags about it.” (Proverbs 13:16)
• “Without consultation, plans are frustrated, but with many counselors, they succeed.” (Proverbs 15:22)
• “The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.” (Proverbs 21:5)
• “A prudent man foresees the difficulties ahead and prepares for them; the simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.” (Proverbs 22:3)
• “Get the facts at any price, and hold on tightly to all the good sense you can get.” (Proverbs 23:23)
• “Any enterprise is built by wise planning, becomes strong through common sense, and profits wonderfully by keeping abreast of the facts.” (Proverbs 24:3-4)

Now, as a planner by nature, I can tell you, planning has a shadow side. Taken too far, it becomes an attempt to remove all uncertainty from life — to engineer outcomes so completely that we no longer need God to show up. That’s something planners have to watch for. But the opposite extreme — having no plan at all — isn’t wisdom either. Scripture doesn’t celebrate that. It calls it foolish.

If you’re a planner by nature, here’s your check: it’s entirely possible to plan so hard that you squeeze God out of the equation. Nehemiah’s planning grew out of his prayer life — he was literally praying in the middle of his conversation with the king (Nehemiah 2:4-5). The plan didn’t replace the prayer. It flowed from it.

If you’re not a planner, here’s yours: refusing to plan isn’t more spiritual. It just removes God from the equation in the other direction — hoping something works out instead of preparing for it to. We often only start planning once something has already happened, and by then it’s too late.

I heard someone say once, “opportunity without preparation is just a missed opportunity.”

The goal isn’t to choose between praying and planning. It’s to pray for the opportunity and plan as if you actually expect God to answer.