God Willing: "D. V." 8-31-25

Overview

D.V. — God Willing

You may have seen the abbreviation D.V. tucked at the bottom of a formal invitation, an agenda, or the close of a letter. It stands for the Latin Deo Volente—"God willing." Two small letters carry a large confession: that our calendars, our itineraries, and our carefully laid plans are all subject to the will of God.

Scripture invites us to plan thoughtfully. Proverbs 15:22 commends seeking many advisors; Proverbs 3:29 warns us not to plan harm against a neighbor. But the heart of the matter is captured in Proverbs 16:9: "The human mind plans the way, but the Lord directs the steps." Even the Apostle Paul experienced this. He intended to travel through Macedonia to Corinth, but circumstances and the Spirit's leading reshaped his itinerary 2 Corinthians 1. Some in Corinth questioned his integrity for it—a reminder that we, too, often resent it when our plans must yield. The vacation cancelled by sickness, the promotion lost to a reorganization, the savings diverted to a sudden repair, the routine medical test that suddenly isn't routine—these are the moments when D.V. confronts our preferences. We prefer to write our plans in pen, not pencil.

Some, like the early church father Jerome, have wondered whether God truly attends to such granular details of life. But Job 12:7-10 answers plainly: in God's hand "is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being." Not one molecule is a maverick. The God who knows the sparrow knows you. And Ephesians 3:20 reminds us he is "able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine." The supreme proof is the cross of Christ—a plan we could never have devised, in which God sent his Son to bear the sin of the world, claimed us in the waters of Baptism, feeds us in word and sacrament, and prepares an eternal home for his baptized children.

So James 4:13-15 teaches us to say, "If the Lord wishes, we will live and do this or that." And Hebrews 6:3 echoes, "we will do this if God permits." Far from being a burden, D.V. is freeing. It takes us off the throne and places us, in humble trust, before the One who is on it. We can plan—and we should—but we hold our plans with open hands, trusting the steps the Lord directs, even when the path is unclear. Because the One directing your steps is the same One who redeemed you through the cross of Christ.

Transcript

Would you open your Bibles, please, with me, to Proverbs 16th chapter. 3s

Proverbs 16, if you're using a Pew edition of Holy Scripture, you're going to find that in the Old Testament page 561 for our time and godsward. 8s

Proverbs 16th chapter. 20s

Texting, texting, messages, shortened abbreviation, quiz. 25s

Are you ready? 43s

Some abbreviations used with texting. 45s

See if you know them. 48s

ATM has nothing to do with banking, right? 51s

ATM at the moment, right? 55s

Here's a harder one. 59s

AFA-I-C-A-F-A-I-C. 62s

You know what that is? 68s

As far as I'm concerned, as far as I'm concerned, how about this one? 71s

BBL. 77s

Bback later. 81s

Bback later. 83s

DM direct message. 86s

IDC. 94s

Okay, I see a few of you nodding. 96s

As you view this one, I don't care. 99s

I don't care. 102s

N-U-M. 104s

N-U-M. 108s

Never, you mind. 111s

Never, you mind. 114s

Or how about this one? 115s

D-V-D-V. 118s

That is for the Latin words, 128s

D-O-Volente, which means God willing. 131s

Sometimes you'll see that at the end of a letter. 138s

Sometimes you can see it on the top of an agenda. 142s

Interestingly, sometimes you'll also see it in formal invitations to an event. 145s

It'll be on the bottom. 150s

N-2 letters, D-V. 153s

God willing. 155s

But here's my question for today. 158s

What happens when D-V? 161s

God willing. 166s

Runs into our plans. 169s

What happens when D-V runs into our plans? 173s

Some people are planners, right? 182s

Some people need less planning. 185s

Take things more as they come, perhaps more spontaneous. 189s

When I was in school, I worked at a drugstore. 195s

I stocked shelves. 200s

I checked people out as they came at the cash register there. 202s

And I remember there was one gentleman. 206s

He was always very well groomed. 208s

There was never a casualness about it. 213s

There was he never came into the store in sweats at all. 215s

Typically, he would wear a light brown sweater. 220s

Very tailored. 224s

Very nice, very kind gentleman. 226s

At the end of the transaction, he would always have a little piece of paper in his pocket. 228s

He would take the piece of paper out and it was a typed list. 233s

Not had her in tight. 237s

And then he would take his pen and he would cross off that he had been to the drugstore. 241s

And then he had a whole other series of stops that he was making that day. 248s

And then on the flip side, would sometimes be a list of the things that he had to get. 254s

This person was a planner, a planner. 260s

To one degree or another, we all plan. 267s

Perhaps some of us more than others. 271s

But we all are planners. 275s

We plan activities. 277s

We plan events. 278s

We plan times with other people. 279s

We are all planners. 283s

And Proverbs brings up the topic about planning. 285s

Proverbs 15, it says, 291s

Without council plans go wrong. 294s

But with many advisors they succeed. 298s

Proverbs 12, 302s

The seat is in the mind of those who plan evil. 304s

But those who council peace have joy. 310s

Proverbs 3, 315s

Do not plan harm against your neighbor who lives trustingly beside you. 316s

Look at our text for today. 324s

Proverbs 16, chapter 9, 326s

The human mind plans the way. 331s

But then notice a very next phrase. 335s

But the Lord directs the steps. 339s

We can plan whatever it is that we want. 353s

But what occurs is in the mind of God. 361s

We can certainly plan, but he is the one that directs. 369s

But what occurs is in the mind of God. 373s

We can certainly plan, but he is the one that directs. 373s

The steps. 373s

We say by the grace of God, if God permits Lord willing, 376s

it's all the same thing. 382s

Isn't it? It's DV. 384s

It's God willing. 387s

What will be is what God wants to be? 391s

DV. 398s

And there's the struggle, isn't it? 403s

There's the struggle. 407s

I think of the first Corinthians of 16's chapter, the Apostle Paul. 409s

The Apostle Paul laid out this plan. 414s

He was going to go through Macedonia, 419s

and then he was going to go to Corinth to make a visit. 422s

But then word came to him. 426s

There were a lot of problems in the church at Corinth. 430s

What we see in Scripture is that church at Corinth was an absolute pure mess. 434s

Paul gets that word. 440s

Instead of going through Macedonia, he goes right from Ephesus. 443s

The Scripture tells us two Corinth. 446s

And it's a painful visit. 449s

He's dealing with multiple problems there at the church at Corinth. 451s

It is painful. 456s

When he leaves, he says, 458s

I will come back and visit you two times more. 462s

Second Corinthians, the first chapter, tells us that there was a change in that itinerary. 468s

The plans changed from what Paul had told to Corinthians. 475s

The plan changed. 482s

And the Corinthians, there were some that didn't like that at all. 488s

They didn't like that Paul had changed the plan. 495s

And so then they started accusing Paul of all kinds of things, 503s

and they get it his integrity and all of that, 507s

because they didn't like that the plans had been changed. 510s

When things don't go according to our plans, 521s

we can struggle with that. Can't we? 526s

If plan is wonderful vacation, this wonderful time away. 531s

And then just before the vacation is to start, you get sick. 536s

Not a head cold, you're sick. 542s

You're sick in bed type of sickness. 547s

And the plan is changed. 551s

The job promotion that you see on the horizon, you're really looking forward to it. 557s

But then all of a sudden the plan changes, 564s

because the company yet again reorganizes the company all of a sudden brings in a new team, 566s

and you're not part of a team. 573s

They've got different people in mind for various positions. 575s

And that plan that you had, the promotion that you could see that was coming your way that you have been groomed for. 582s

You have prepared for. 589s

Now all of a sudden isn't going to land in your lap. 592s

It's going to land on somebody on the new team. 594s

And the plan changes. 599s

You've saved four years for this trip. 606s

And then just before the trip, 611s

this huge house repair comes. 615s

And you need to divert the money from the trip to take care of the repair. 619s

Year after year, you go for the same medical tests. 630s

And everything year after year comes back fine. 634s

Except this year didn't come back fine. 639s

And now that changes the next six months to a year, 644s

maybe even longer for you. 649s

And the plans. 653s

They change. 656s

We don't like to put plans in pencil. 662s

We like to write them in pen. 667s

But submitting to the DVD of God, 674s

what God wills, 678s

that's an act of humility. 681s

But the old Adam and the old Eve in us. 685s

We can struggle with submitting. 690s

In fact, we would rather have, 693s

God submit to us. 697s

Because we've got the plan. 704s

We've thought it out. 708s

We've worked it through. 711s

Instead of the act of humility, 717s

we want God to humble himself. 721s

Before us, 727s

look again at the text. 729s

The human mind plans the way. 732s

But the Lord directs the steps. 736s

But. 745s

Does God really understand all the details of the universe? 752s

Does God understand all of the, 757s

all of the intricacies and the details or is he more of a big picture? 760s

I think of Jerome. 767s

Jerome was a early church theologian. 769s

He translated the Bible into Latin. 773s

And yet Jerome wrote this. 778s

He said, 780s

It is an absurd detraction of the majesty of God 781s

to say, 787s

God knows every moment how many nets are born and how many die. 789s

How many bed bugs, fleas and flies, 795s

there are on earth. 798s

What number of fishes live in the water? 799s

Jerome said, 802s

it is an absurd detraction of the majesty of God 803s

that God would get to that granular type of level, 808s

knowing all about even nets, 812s

whether they're born or whether they die. 816s

And yet this one that translated the Bible, 821s

in 480 into Latin, 826s

must not have remembered verses like this one in Job, 830s

where Job says. 836s

But ask the animals and they will teach you. 840s

The birds of the air and they will tell you, 843s

ask the plants of the earth and they will teach you. 847s

And the fish of the sea will declare to you. 851s

Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? 855s

In his hand is the life of every living thing 861s

and the breath of every human being. 867s

God governs the universe. 875s

His R.C. scroll used to put it, 879s

there's not one maverick molecule in the entire universe 881s

that is doing its own thing. 884s

God governs the universe. 888s

Is absolutely omniscient. He knows all. 892s

He is omnipotent. He is all powerful. 896s

He governs everything. 899s

God knows all about the net. 901s

That was born and the net. 907s

That died. 913s

And the God who knows all about the net. 917s

Certainly knows all about you. 925s

Paul says in Ephesians the third chapter, 933s

now to him, 937s

who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly, 939s

far more than all we can ask or imagine. 945s

That is the God that is. 951s

That our puny minds cannot comprehend. 956s

What God comprehends. 960s

And what God can accomplish. 963s

And what God does. 966s

The supreme example of that is the Lord Jesus Christ. 969s

Who can comprehend the love and mercy of God 975s

that sends his son the Lord Jesus to the cross 980s

to bear the sin of the world. 983s

You are sin, my sin, the sin of everyone. 986s

Who can comprehend. 988s

That God instead of turning his back on all of creation, 992s

sends his son to redeem creation. 996s

Who can comprehend. 999s

God who takes the victory of the cross and the empty tomb 1002s

and washes us in the waters of baptism saying to us, 1006s

you are mine. 1011s

I'm not letting go. 1013s

Who can comprehend the majesty of God that comes to us? 1014s

In word and in sacrament, 1021s

who can comprehend the majesty of God 1024s

for the place that he has prepared for you baptized child 1027s

on that day when he calls your name and takes you home 1030s

to be in that place of eternity into the beauty of heaven. 1035s

Our minds can't even begin to wrap around 1041s

the perfection and the beauty and the joy of heaven. 1045s

James, the brother of our Lord, 1053s

writes, recorded in James the fourth chapter. 1055s

Come now. 1060s

You who say, today or tomorrow, 1062s

we will go to such and such a town and spend a year there 1065s

doing business and making money, 1069s

yet you do not even know what tomorrow will bring. 1071s

What is your life for your missed that appears for a little while 1076s

and then vanishes? 1081s

Instead, you ought to say, if the Lord wishes, 1082s

we will live and do this or that. 1089s

Davy. 1094s

Davy. 1096s

Hebrews the 6 chapter, 1099s

and we will do this if God permits. 1101s

Trust him. 1111s

Who has redeemed you. 1114s

The human mind plans the way, 1121s

but the Lord directs the steps. 1124s

Trust in the steps that he has allowed for you. 1131s

Trust in them even when you don't understand the path, 1141s

because Davy is free. 1148s

Davy takes us off of the throne, 1154s

and we bow before the one on the throne. 1160s

Davy frees us. 1166s

To know that he's in charge, 1169s

and we're not. 1176s

Davy frees us to live in humble submission. 1178s

To the one who loves you to the point of redeeming you 1188s

through the cross of Christ. 1195s

And in his steps for us, 1199s

we can trust Davy. 1208s

What a joy it has been, this summer, 1214s

awesome along to look at various provoops, 1217s

each and every week. 1221s

And next Sunday, we begin a new sermon series. 1224s

It's nine months long. 1228s

It's divided into seven different mini-series, 1231s

or seven different sections. 1236s

I've entitled it the Red Letter Words, 1239s

because we're going to take a look for the next nine months. 1242s

At some of the words of the Lord Jesus Christ, 1246s

I can't wait to go through this series 1250s

with all of the mini-series in it. 1255s

Beautiful music tying in to the themes on the Sundays. 1260s

I can't wait to start this new series. 1266s

That begins next Sunday. 1272s

Davy, of course. 1277s

Davy, of course. 1281s