In verse 13-17, James gives us a scenario of a person making plans for the next year. And this person decides to find a town or city in which they will spend a year selling and trading merchandise or goods with the intent of making money. Now there is nothing wrong necessarily with these plans. There is nothing wrong with establishing a business plan or making money or even planning for the future. But the point James is making is too often we determine our plans without asking God what he wants us to do.
James could have used any scenario. The scenario could have been anything:
- Come now, you who say, I am going to go to college at this school and get this degree.
- Come now, you who say, after I graduate, I am going to move to this city and have this type of career.
- Come now, you who says, I am going to marry this person, we are going to have this many kids.
- Come now, you who say, this year I am going to be involved in this activity and our kids are going to do this and this summer we are going to go on this vacation.
James could have used any scenario in which we are making plans for the future and determining what we will do with our life. I would imagine right now you have some type of plans you are thinking about whether they are short-term or long-term.
I am going to be in this job for another five years and then I am going to do this.
We are going to live here until the kids the graduate and then we are going to do this.
I am going to serve in this ministry for another year and this I am going to do this.
Now of course, there is nothing wrong for thinking about the future, planning for the future and even establishing some goals. As long as those dreams and plans and goal are for the purpose of the glory of God according to the will of God.
In verse 13, the end goal was making a profit. Now again there is nothing wrong with making a profit. But James wants us to think about our end goal according to the will of God. As we plan and set goals, may our mindset be: out of obedience to God, I am going to do this for the glory of God.
When we think about our life, we must think about it through the mindset of Christ who said “not my will but yours be done” or through the mindset of Paul who said, “I no longer live but Christ live sin me.”
Planning is good. Goal setting is good. Vision casting is good. God wired us to do these things recognizing that we live life constantly surrendered to the will of God. Every breathe, every step, every plan–all we do we do seeking and desiring the will of God.
One writer said these words, “These merchants (that James talks about in verse 13) did well to look into the future, but they did not look far enough. We must look into the future in terms of eternity and not only in terms of tomorrow’s gain. Their aspirations were high, but they were not high enough.”
I love those words. You want to think about the future. Great. Think about eternity. You want seek a profit. Great. Seek the profit that comes from seeking first the Kingdom of God. Seek the treasure of heaven.
In verse 13, the issue James has isn’t with planning but with presumption. The presumption says, I am in control of my life and through planning and hard work, this is what life will be. And James says, no one can presume anything when it comes to their life. And the reason is verse 14 says, our life is a mist that appears for a moment and then vanishes. Nothing in this life is guaranteed. And in the grand scheme of things life so so short like a mist that is here for a moment and then disappears.
By saying that our earthly life is a mist he is wanting us to think about our current existence through a finite lens recognizing that we have a brief time on this earth. And that understanding should shape how we live.
Psalm 90:12 says, “teach us to number our days so that we might get a heart of wisdom.” In other words, teach us to see how short life is so that we would live each day wisely.
As believers in Jesus Christ, our life is not our own.
1 Corinthians 6:19 says, “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own…” Our physical bodies, our physical lives are not our own do with it as we please.
Jeremiah 10:23 says, “I know, Lord, that our lives are not our own. We are not able to plan our own course.”
And Paul writes in Galatians 2:20, “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”
James wants us to think that if life is short, if we have a very limited amount of time, then the question for us as believers in Jesus Christ should be, ‘God, what do you want to do with my life.”
Verse 15
Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
James says live life out of a response to what God is leading you to do. The merchant in verse 13 could have said, let’s go to this city, trade and make a profit if he knew that was what God is leading him to do. But the challenge is if you are going to live according to the will of God, then what do you need to know? You need to know what it is that the Lord wills.
And this is an area that many people struggle with. How do I know God’s will?
Discerning God’s will can sometimes feel like a mystery. It can feel hard. Sometimes it can feel like God is silent. And it can be frustrating. God, what do you want me to do.
And I think that idea of knowing God’s will becomes frustrating when we are looking for God to give us precise directions like go left or go right. And we can find ourselves paralyzed. God, I don’t know what to do.
I believe that knowing God’s will is less about precise directions and more about intimate fellowship. We can have confidence that we are walking in God’s will when we are earnestly seeking God, trusting in God and daily surrendering our lives to God.
Proverbs 3:5-6 is a great picture of living according to God’s will. Solomon, son of King David, writes these words: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”
Solomon is telling us what our responsibility is before God: Fully and completely trust God. Trust him as the one who is provider and sustainer and provider.
God, I am trusting you as the one who directs my steps. I am not going to lean on my own understandings, on my own worries or fears or insecurities. You are God, you are good and I can trust you.
Solomon continues and says in all yours acknowledge Him, other translations say submit to Him or know Him. In every area of my life I submit to you.
God, I want live in my marriage relationships, my relationships with my parents and friends, at work, in my community, my thought life, my hopes and dreams, my present and my future. My schedule, calendar, my financials – I want to live life in a manner that please you.
Solomon says that is our responsibility. We are to live life fully trusting in God and surrendered to God. And then God’s responsibility is to direct out steps, make our paths straight. He is the one who goes before us. It is His responsibility to lead.
I believe that when we live life trusting and surrendered before God, he begins to place direction and vision on our heart. We begin to sense Him saying, ‘I want you to enter into this relationship. I want you to pursue this opportunity. I want you to use your finances this way. I want you to use your time in this manner.’
And as we begin to live life this way, we find ourselves less and less stuck in those major crossroads of what is God’s will and we find ourselves more and more living a daily life of trust and surrender.
And so as James writes we are to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” It means that we are fully and completely trusting our life to God, surrendering to our wills to God.
James knew that many of his readers were not living this way. Rather, they were seeking their own will and their own desires. Or another way to say it, they make decisions out of their own understandings. And they were pleased with their own self-confidence. And so he addresses this attitude in verse 16.
Verse 16
As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
James says that your boasting or your confidence in your own self is evil. It is evil because you are trusting in your own wisdom rather than in the wisdom of God. That is the very thing Solomon says do not do in Proverbs 3:5.
I think the idea of boasting can many times be more in our actions then in our words. We plan some big vacation for our family and we never actually asked God if this is how he wants us to spend our time and money. And our actions boast I know what is best for my life.
We fill up our yearly calendar without ever asking the question, “God, how do you want me, how do you want us as a family to use our time this year.” And our actions boast, we know what is best for our life.
James concludes in verse 17 with these words.
Verse 17
So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
When we read these words, I don’t think James is simply responding to the subject of living according to the will of God but rather I believe these words point us back to all of chapter four. James has been writing about living with one another in the body of Christ with humility. Using our words to build up and not tear down. To live a life trusting in God.
And so James says you know what is right, you know what is good, God has clearly communicated to you what he desires of you. Don’t ignore his instructions and simply trust in your own understanding.
And when God is prompting you to do what he is calling you to do, don’t ignore it.
I imagine we have all had those moments where we clearly sense the prompting of God’s Spirit in our life. Prompting that says: be silent in this situation, or speak words of encouragement, or ask for forgiveness. Or husband, pause right now and pray with you wife.
It is in these moments that we have the struggle between self and God, between our will and God’s will.
In this final statement here in chapter 4, James is calling us to live out verse 7: “Submit yourselves therefore to God.” He is urging us to live out verse 10: “Humble yourselves before God.” Let his will reign in our lives.
