Planning

James 4 warns us about planning by telling us the story of a man who made plans sinfully. We look for “principles to plan by” on this Take Note.

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James 4:13-17

All of us make plans, to one degree or another
There is nothing wrong with plan-making, in and of itself
And today’s passage of scripture will not discourage us from making plans
But it may challenge some of the motivations behind our planning
And encourage us to think in a more Biblical way about it

Planning is the topic of the day, from James 4

Everyone makes plans
But none of us know the future
And no matter how certain something in the world seems at the moment
It doesn’t take long to become uncertain
The man we encounter in this passage could have used these lessons

James 4:13

13 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:

14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

We took a few minutes at the beginning to add the disclaimer, planning is not wrong
We know this is the case, many passages encourage us to plan
Then what is the problem here?
Well, we should ask a couple of questions

Where is this planning coming from? (Who is its author?)
Who does it benefit?

The language of these verses
Particularly when they say “come now” or “go to now”
Indicate there was presumption
When the verses question the planner
They seem to indicate this is not according to God’s will
It is a selfish plan that comes from the desires of a man’s heart
To personally benefit that man financially

Plans like this are common
Rather than seeking God for direction, we follow our passions
We survey only our own selfish hearts and make decisions to pursue what we want

There are many problems with doing this
Among those mentioned in this verse…
We lack the knowledge to do this
Did you notice?
Verse 14 says we don’t know what shall happen tomorrow
God is in control and only He knows
Every declaration we make about the future is presumption
And while it may seem wise in the world’s eyes
We cannot merely rely upon experience, our own intelligence, advice from the world, gut feelings, or anything else – except God

We would do well to ask this question
What is our life?
Because we not only lack knowledge, but we also lack time
And our time is in God’s hands, but we know one thing for sure – it is short
Therefore we need to step back and see the full context

When we do, we will say what is encouraged in the next verse…

James 4:15

15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

Now we are onto something
This does not prevent or eliminate planning
But it does something of ultimate importance
It looks to the only One who knows the future
And it affirms, I rely totally upon You, Lord

If you will, I will live
For I don’t know what tomorrow holds
If you will, I will do this or that
Because my life is yours, my tomorrow is yours, my efforts are yours

And so this is what we ought to say, about any plans
“If the Lord will”

So what was the man that said “To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain” doing?
The next verse clears it up…

James 4:16

16 But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.

It seems there was an assumption that this man knew what tomorrow held
He was putting himself in the place of God
He was also assuming that he knew he had time
Even though man’s life is a vapour, that vanishes quickly
And he was boasting
He said that he would buy and sell and get gain
But no man can do such a thing on his own
We only have breath in our lungs and strength in our arms because God allows them
It is only by Him that “live and move, and have our being”
And any assurances, by any man, that he can do anything (apart from God) amount to boasting
And this rejoicing in ourselves is called evil
Because it puts man in the place of God
That is a place we never belong

There is one more verse
We may find its location at the end of this passage a curious one…

James 4:17

17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.

What good is it, that we may know to do in this context, that we “do not”
This is not actively doing wrong
It is failing to do something that we know is good

It can be safely assumed that it is “good” to seek God in every future plan
To request His guidance
To desire His will far above our own
To say “if the Lord wills” I will do this or that

But if we know to do this “good” or any other
It is counted sin before God
And it must be regarded as evil

Planning then, how do we do it?
Taking ever into account His will
By consulting His word
Realizing the limitations of our knowledge and ability
Relying fully and only on His knowledge and His ability