You have doubtless heard the old saying: "People do not plan to fail, they just fail to plan." This verse addresses those who actually do plan to fail. They work failure into their confession, their plans, their expectancy.
You can hear it in their conversations: "If this marriage doesn't work, I can always get a divorce." "If this business goes under, I can always file bankruptcy." "If the Lord doesn't heal me, I can always use Blue Cross and Medicare."
Such words are more than attempts to plan for contingencies, they are actually attempts to justify failure before it ever happens.
In Romans 13:14 the Apostle Paul warns against such pre-planned failure. He tells us in essence: "Don't work failure into your plans. Don't allow for it. Don't even put it on the agenda."
Provision is an interesting word. In the original Greek it is pronoia (pron'-oy-ah). Pro is a prefix meaning "before, in front of, prior to, ahead of time" (compare prologue - words spoken before the main dissertation).
Noia comes from noieo referring to the mind, perception, the intellect, the thoughts. Thus, provision (pronoia) is thinking about something ahead of time.
People plan their vacations, their holidays, their income tax filings, and a myriad other happenings during the course of a year. That is good - if it's positive. Negative planning is disastrous.
Don't plan on bankruptcy. Don't plan on trouble. Don't plan on losing your temper. No general ever goes out to battle planning to lose. Plan on winning. Plan on victory. It is in Christ. It is in this verse.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers