I can get frustrated when things don’t go my way. Irritated when people don’t see things from my perspective. It’s like they intentionally want to see me fail. I think this is something that is common to man. Do you ever get frustrated with someone at work who seems to be intentionally running interference on you or shooting down your great ideas at meetings? We all have experienced that frustration to one degree or another.

Lucky for us, Solomon had some wisdom to share with us about how to handle conflicts of interest. He knew that people would run into walls where others did not view life from their same lens. This is what he said.

Proverbs 16:1-3 says

The plans of the heart belong to man,
but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
² All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,
but the Lord weighs the spirit.
³ Commit your work to the Lord,
and your plans will be established.

God, not man, in charge of your plan.

That seems too simple doesn’t it? Clearly God doesn’t know about the terror at your office or home. You have all these great plans to glorify God and people keep getting in the way.

What if God is less worried about your plan, than he is worried about you. God wants you for Himself.

Knowing that takes stress away from me when I ever I go through conflict. I’m notfighting a person, I’m fighting the Lord. The quicker I realize that people aren’t my problem and that God might be trying to teach me something, the quicker I get on God’s agenda. Could you do that?

Imagine for a moment what your life would look like if every time you felt someone getting in your way at work, or your spouse disagreed with you over a family decision, if a potential dating opportunity went another direction, or whatever personal conflict occurred, you simply looked up at God and stopped stressing and said, “God, I want what you want. Please align my will to yours, give me wisdom for my plans, and help me establish what you want in this situation.”

Imagine all of the anger you had towards people evaporating as you rested knowing that God is in control. Imagine all the stress that would dissipate because you realized you weren’t in control. Imagine if people treated one another that way, what a way better world this would be. What if it started with you?

What conflict do you need to turn over to the Lord today?