Do NOT make ANY plans WITHOUT GOD!
December
18 Bible Reading: James Chapters 4-5
Do NOT make ANY plans WITHOUT GOD!
Come now, you who say, "Today or
tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell,
and make a profit"; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For
what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then
vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live
and do this or that." But now you boast in your arrogance. All such
boasting is evil. (James 4:13-16)
In
approximately thirteen days, we are going to step into a new year. It is a
common trend to make ‘New Year Resolutions’ that will list our plans for the
New Year. Usually in churches, believers will get an occasion to say their
testimonies during the ‘Watch Night Service’ on December 31st night,
and barring few exceptions, believers will publicly declare what they plan to
do during the New Year. All of us have hopes, dreams, and plans, and the Bible never discourages us from looking to the
future with bright expectation!
However, in
the above passage Apostle James specifically exhorts us that we should not make any plans apart from God and
boast about them. Since we have absolute no control over our lives or over the
events that may happen in our lives, we should never boast about our short-range and long-range plans without God
in the equation. Let us not forget the parable of the rich fool (Luke 12:13–21)
who boasted about his future business plans not knowing that he would die that
same night, and would see none of his grandiose plans getting fulfilled. Let us
never boast about our future as we
read in Proverbs 27:1 as follows: "Do
not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth."
Our lives
and our future are in God’s control. His thoughts and ways are much higher than
our thoughts and ways as God Himself tells us: "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My
ways," says the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts”
(Isaiah 55:8-9). So, even if we make any plans for our future, let us ensure
that they are written using a chalk or pencil asking ourselves the following
question: “What if?” and let God have
the eraser!
Let us always remember that God should be
consulted in all our plans, and they should be made according to His will and based
on His Word. We should live and speak in the realization that our destinies
are in His control. We should say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do
this or that.” Omitting God from our future plans is not merely bad
planning; it is sin. We should only make plans in conscious dependence
on God, recognizing His sovereign control over our lives. Let all our future
plans be only according to God's will and purposes. We can be confident that
God has only good thoughts and plans
about us and our future!
