"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"— 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. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." James 4:13-15
I am convinced that how I view God and how I view life really matters. It really matters whether a true view of life and of God informs and shapes the way I think and how I speak about my plans. Our mindset matters. How you talk about your plans and how you think about God matters. Why? Why does that matter? Because God created us not just to do things and go places with our bodies, but to have certain attitudes and convictions and speech that reflect the truth; a true view of life and God. God means for the truth about Himself and about life to be known and felt and spoken and lived out as part of our reason for being. You weren't just created to go somewhere and do business; you were made to go somewhere with thoughts and attitudes and words that reflect a right view of life and God.
HAVING A HUMBLE VIEW OF LIFE
1. A HUMBLE view of life sees that the future is uncertain
James tells us says in verse 14, that in all of your planning keep in your mind and give expression with your lips to this truth: “Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring." That is, in humility, keep in mind that you have no firm substance on this earth. You don’t know what tomorrow will bring. We don’t know what we think we know because our knowledge, like our life, is limited. O how I have learned how limited is my knowledge during theses past 19 months! 19 months ago I was planning for a future that included my wife and my church. Little did I know that I would be divorced, I would not be pastoring my old church and be attempting to start a new church, that my income would decrease by 80%, and that I would be starting my life completely over at 58 years old. So much for my plans!
I have learned that I am not God; therefore I cannot see what is coming next! This has profoundly humbled me and kept me in a very humble posture before God in living the rest of my life! But I have come to believe that ignorance concerning the future is a God-given blessing and not a liability. Oh, I know we would all like to join with the fictional characters in Back to the Future movies and be able to bet on sporting events and invest in the stock market with a knowledge of all that is going to take place. But I think that God in his wisdom has very wisely hidden the future from us. Think about it. If God were to let you look ahead and see your future prosperity, you might become extremely careless. If you saw ahead to the adversity and personal losses you are going to be facing, you might despair or you might try to take control to make sure it doesn’t happen. God has hidden the future from you for a very good reason. It is so that you might be compelled to trust in him wholeheartedly and completely every moment of every day of your life. The Bible teaches us that the people of God shall live by faith (Romans 1:17). And without faith it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6).
2. A HUMBLE view of life sees that life is fragile
James also says, “What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes away" (Verse 14). Not only is the future uncertain, you are as fragile as mist and vapor. This is an eloquent simile. You see the mist at one moment and a few minutes later it’s gone. You see the steam coming out of your coffee cup and in just a second, it disappears into the air. Life is like that. James’ point is that you have no assurance of a long life! You have no promise that you will live for ten more years, one more year, one more week, one more day or even one more hour. You don’t even know if you’ll make it till tomorrow morning!
In Psalm 103:15-16, the Psalmist writes, “As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.” Every day of your life, every breath you take is totally dependent upon God. You are always just one heartbeat away from eternity. Did you know that your days, from a heavenly perspective, are numbered! You will never live one day, or one hour, or even one second longer than God has planned for you to live. In Psalm 139:16 the Psalmist writes, “All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.”
That’s why Moses prays in Psalm 90:12, “So teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom.” On October 13, I turned 58 and a half. I have about 4562 days until I’m at my allotted seventy, if I even make that. That only adds up to about 652 weeks or 152 months! Yikes! Only God can give me the wisdom I need to spend those days profitably in light of eternity. Keep in mind that you have no durability on this earth, for you appear "for a little while" - just a little while. Your time is short. And keep in mind that you will disappear. You will be gone, and life will go on without you. It matters, he says, that you keep this view of life in mind in all of your decisions and planning.
HAVING A HUMBLE VIEW OF GOD
James tells us the true view of God that we should have in our minds and in our mouths as we plot our future - as we make our plans. It not only matters that you have a humble view of life when you make your plans,- you are like a vapor, but it also matters that you have a humble view of God as you make your plans. And that you give expression of this humble view of God: "You ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that'" (Verse 15). Now it is important to see that James is not just giving us a teaching to make sure that we preface all of our actions with “if it is the Lord’s will”.
We all know that people use “God’s will” to get their way; “lord willing” becomes a cliche used to rationalize selfishness. James is not talking about spiritualizing decision making. Anyone can say the words if the Lord wills and intend nothing more than to be RC- religiously correct. James is not looking for a change of words, but a change of heart. James offers a correction to a deeply ingrained philosophy of life. The big issue is between those who live, really live, as if God exists and those who do not. In your planning for tomorrow or next week or next month or next year or for ten years from now, God wants you’re planning to be done with Him and His will in mind.
There ought to be small parentheses written in all the sentences of your planning even as Jesus taught us by both His example in Gethsemane, “Father, not my but thy will be done” and in his teaching to us on prayer: . “Father in heaven…Let Your will be done”. It is the submissive attitude toward God that says, “Lord, you may interrupt at any time. In fact God, I welcome you to do so. Change this whole plan in accordance with your will and I’ll accept it from your hand.” “Give me the desire to want what I want to ought, so that I will do what I ought to do”.
So what is the right view of God that he teaches us to have in verse 15? He tells us two very important things about God. One is contained in the words: "If the Lord wills, we will live." And the other is contained in the words, "If the Lord wills, we will . . . do this or that."
1. First, when he says, "If the Lord wills, we will live," he teaches us that the duration of our lives is in the hands of God. Or: God governs how long we will live. Or: God is ultimately in control of life and death. We may not know how long our vapor-like life will linger in the air, but God knows, because God decides how long we will live: "If the Lord wills we will live." And James is saying: If this is a true view of life and God, then it should shape our mindset and shape our way of talking. In Acts 18:21, Paul left Ephesus and said, "I will return to you again if God wills." In 1 Corinthians 4:19 he writes, "I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills." For most of his life he did not know if the next town might be his burial place. That was in the hands of God. And so are our lives. Psalm 31:15-16, "But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, "You are my God. My times are in your hand.” God will decide how long we live and when we die. And James' point is: God means for that truth, that reality, to shape our mindset and our attitude and our words. He means for that truth to be known and spoken about. He means for it to be a part of the substance of our conversation. God means for a true view of himself to be known and believed and embraced and cherished and kept in mind and spoken of.
2. Now, there is another truth about God in verse 15: When he says, "If God wills we will . . . do this or that," he teaches us that the activities and accomplishments of our lives are in God's hands. God governs what we accomplish. Not only are our lives in his hands, our success is in his hands. Proverbs 16:9 we are told: “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.”
1. Let us remember how wonderfully secure we are in the confidence that it is God who finally governs our lives
God and not chance, God and not our enemies, God and not disease, God and not the devil. I, for one, am very glad that my life is in the hands of an all-loving, all-wise, all-powerful Father. I pray that in the Gethsemane evening of my life I will be able to say with Jesus, "Not my will but yours be done," and then, "Into your hands I commit my spirit." Rejoice in this. You are immortal until God's work for you is done.
2. Since your life and your accomplishments are ultimately in the hands of God, then he is able, in ways you never dreamed, to help you fulfill His plans for your life and provide every need besides.
Philippians 4:19, "My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." 2 Corinthians 9:8, "God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed."
3. Trust God with your future plans.
Proverbs 19:21 says, “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” Things don’t always go the way we plan them. I can absolutely testify to this! At best, our plans are tentative, because we can’t see ahead. We make plans but many times God has a much better plan. That’s why he sometimes changes our plans so that they will fit perfectly with his plan. So we must learn to be humble, flexible and tentative as we look to the future, knowing that God may have a totally different plan than what we are now thinking. In his sovereignty he may very well change those plans according to his perfect will. Oh may we live our lives in humble, loving, trust, and submission in God who governs our lives and our achievements for our good and his glory!
Trusting in Him who holds the future,
Pastor Bill
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