Man Makes Plans and God Laughs… With Us?

Written on October 15, 2025, as I ponder on being a planner early in the morning.

I grew up hearing the saying “man makes plans and God laughs.” This saying, originally a Yiddish Proverb, I believe stems from Proverbs 16:9, “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” The Yiddish proverb is supposed to mean that life is unpredictable, there are many things beyond our control, which is very true. When I would hear the saying, I used to see a picture of God laughing, mockingly, like we were stupid for making plans. I don’t think God is laughing at us… at least, I don’t think He wants to. I’m sure He would want to laugh with us. 

What I mean is that God may be laughing at us when we make plans, but not to mock us. He’s laughing because life is unpredictable and beyond our control, but He has control, and we have no clue what He can do with our plans. He is laughing because all of our goals, dreams, and plans can be multiplied by five, ten, even thousands, if we would just surrender them. Once we surrender them, then God isn’t laughing at us, but with us. We, too, are laughing when things don’t go as planned because we would finally and truly believe that sometimes a detour to us is a highway to God. He is laughing because He knows we can’t see the big picture, and we will never dream as big as He will take us. 

In Isaiah 55:8-9, we are reminded, “’For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’” Let’s dream big, make thought out plans, and strive for our goals, but even more important, let’s laugh in the face of life’s unpredictability, knowing that God is laughing with us, trusting in His guidance.