Tuesday | James 4:13-17
James 4:13-17
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
I used to have a co-worker who would tell me “I want to want to plan” fairly regularly because in the realm of time management, I was the planner and he was the spontaneous adventurer. There would be several occasions where I’d have weeks planned out and he wouldn’t always know how his day would turn out and was fine about that while the thought of a lack of clarity gave me anxiety. Are you the planner? Or do you prefer spontaneity?
In today’s passage, I want to begin by addressing what James is NOT saying. First, he is not saying that planning is bad. In fact, planning means paying attention and intention. Secondly, he is not saying that the future is unimportant. When we plan without God at the center of what we’re thinking, process, or figuring it we’re actually being arrogant.
While James is being serious, the phrase “if the Lord wills…” seems to be something thrown around without intention or used flippantly in Christian circles without a real understanding of it. So, in the end, what does this phrase actually mean and how does it help us in our planning? Here are five principles to learn about this phrase:
Prayer: Before the pen touches the paper, are your plans submitted and bathed in prayer? If prayer comes after the fact, then it’s an indicator of the condition of our heart.
Seek the Holy Spirit: Jesus teaches that part of the Holy Spirit’s role and function is to teach us and provide us with counsel.
Seek God’s Word: The psalmist says that the Word of God is like a lamp to his feet. A lamp can only provide limited visibility, you have to walk into what you see first before you can see anything else.
Seek Counsel: Do you seek counsel or agreement? Sometimes, we’re looking for a friend that will tell us what we want to hear rather than one who may challenge our intentions.
Open Hands: Are your plans held with open hands or a clenched fist? God listens to the prayers of His children and like a good father, He always provides us with an answer. It may be “yes,” “no,” or “not yet.”
Whether you plan ahead or want to want to plan ahead, the goal is to become more like Jesus in the process. If you are constantly in search for the will of God for your life, then align your will with His will and then you will have God’s will.