James 4:13–17 — if the Lord wills

Through James, part 15 · James 4:13–17

"Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.' Yet you don't know what tomorrow will bring — what your life will be! For you are like vapor that appears for a little while, then vanishes." (James 4:13–14)

"Come now"

The phrase carries disapproval — like saying "c'mon" in a certain tone. James is addressing people who make their plans and ignore God. Notice what he is not attacking: moving, doing business, making money. He's attacking doing all of it without ever considering God's will.

A vapor

Jesus told a story about a rich man who planned bigger barns and died that night (Luke 12:16–21). We make confident decisions on an uncertain future. It's foolish to plan and live without reference to the will of God, because you don't own tomorrow.

"If the Lord wills" (v. 15)

A true mark of faith is the desire to seek God's will. We should be seeking it constantly. The point isn't a magic phrase to tack onto sentences; it's that followers of Christ practice their reliance on God in how they plan.

Here's a way to hold it: learn from the past, live in the present, plan for the future.

Learn from the past. Assess your life honestly. Those who don't learn from history repeat it.

Live in the present. Be in the moment — in your home, your relationships, your work. Don't get so weighed down by the past or caught up in the future that you miss what's in front of you. There's a line from a TV show that's stuck with me: "I wish there was a way to know you're in the good old days before you've actually left them."

Plan for the future. Proverbs repeatedly tells us to provide for our families, even beyond our lifetime: "A good man leaves an inheritance to his grandchildren" (Proverbs 13:22), and Paul says that a man who doesn't provide for his own household has denied the faith (1 Timothy 5:8). But plan beyond this earth too: "Store up for yourselves treasures in heaven... for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Matthew 6:19–21).

God gave you your past. He's giving you your present. And He is the One who will give you your future.

Boasting and the sin of leaving God out (vv. 16–17)

"Boasting" here is bragging about something you don't have and can't guarantee — the arrogance of operating outside God's will. Many people are practical atheists: they "believe" in God but never seek Him. Others are self-theists: they believe in God, they even ask Him, and then they make their own decisions as if their opinion were the one that mattered.

"So it is sin to know the good and yet not do it." To fail to seek God's will in your decisions isn't a small oversight. James calls it sin — knowing what's right and not doing it.

Vapor

You've got plans for next week. So did everybody James was writing to. A vapor doesn't get to argue with the wind. If you've never settled where you stand with God, that's the real weight of this passage — not the business plan, not the move, not the profit. You. You don't know that tomorrow shows up, and nobody does, and the one decision that outlives you is what you do with Jesus. He died for your sin, He came out of the tomb alive, and He saves everyone who calls on Him. That's the appointment you don't get to reschedule.

For those who are already His: take one decision you've made in your head but haven't done yet. A purchase. A hire. A conversation you've been rehearsing. Before you execute it this week, stop and actually ask Him. Say it: if the Lord wills. If it survives that, go do it. If it doesn't, you just learned something worth more than the plan was.

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Through James: ← Part 14 · Part 15 · Part 16 →