Presumptuous Planning
God's control of tomorrow
A major objective of James throughout his epistle is to stop evil speaking. In his crusade against it, he winds through many arguments and illustrations until he comes to the fundamental issue: a man’s attitude toward the law of God (Jas. 4:11). James shows that a man who breaks the law by speaking against a brother is doubly guilty. First, he is guilty of acting contrary to the law, and second, by casting the law aside, he is guilty of holding the law in contempt. In essence, he is denying that God has a right to define his behavior as sin. Thus, by judging God’s law, he is placing himself higher than the lawgiver, God, and making law for himself. But what folly (Jas. 4:12)! A rough translation of James’s rebuke of such a man is, "Who do you think you are?" James points out that God has ultimate power, even over life and death, whereas we are nothing. His power to destroy us if we fail to obey Him should give us, if we have any common sense, a healthy respect for His law.
The next verses continue the comparison between man’s weakness and God’s strength. The enormous gulf between creature and Creator exists not only in God’s ability to declare what is right, but also in His ability to control the future. Everything that happens is the direct outworking of God’s will. He is the One who ordains the course of history. Man, however, has no control of the future beyond his ability to make plans and preparations that may never come to fruition.
Before drawing out the implications of God’s sovereignty over tomorrow as well as today, James says, "Go to now"—literally, "Come now" (v. 13). These are words calling for close attention. He is saying, "Listen to me, for I will show you how misguided you are, you who take seriously your attempts to plan your lives." He addresses especially those traveling merchants whose normal practice is to map out a strategy for making money in the months ahead. For the sake of illustration, he describes a typical strategy that they might conceive. They might decide to leave today or tomorrow for another city, with the intention of staying there and conducting profitable business for a whole year. James characterizes their plans as presumptuous (v. 14). They are making unfounded assumptions about what will happen. Everything they confidently expect is a matter of speculation—whether their final balance sheet will show a profit, whether they will be able to remain in the city a full year, even whether they will reach the city. They really do not know what tomorrow will bring.
Doubt attaches even to whether they will live another year. James reminds them that life is like a vapor that, after suddenly appearing, quickly disperses and fades away, becoming undetectable. He is thinking perhaps of a wisp of smoke, or of an odorous exhalation from a jar of perfume, or of a slight breath of fresh air. Such a vapor is now here, now gone, just like a human life—now here, now gone.
The proper lens for seeing the future
In view of how uncertain the future is, we should look upon our plans as mere guesses. We should acknowledge that whether our plans come to pass depends strictly on whether God allows them to prosper (v. 15). To every thought of what will happen, we should attach the condition, "if God wills." James does not mean that it is a sin to omit this wording whenever we speak of the future. Rather, he means that in our hearts we must never fail to recognize that the future depends on God. Though we do not actually say "God willing," this proviso should be fundamental to our outlook on things to come. We must always understand it to be true whether or not we say it. Yet there are times when it is good to hedge a promise by stating outright, "God willing." We find many examples in the New Testament (Acts 18:21; 1 Cor. 4:19; 16:7; Heb. 6:3; Phil. 2:24). It is always good to speak these words if the people hearing us might build up expectations that come to nought, leaving them disappointed.
Making plans
If "the best laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft a-gley" (or, go often awry), as the poet says, should we make plans at all? When criticizing the merchants who lay out a strategy for making money, did James mean that a businessman is wrong if he looks ahead? Planning is normal practice in every realm of life—not only in business, but also in education, family affairs, even the work of the church. Is it wrong? Should we simply live day by day without giving any thought to the future? No, that is impossible. Whatever we do is governed by some picture of what will happen. Any purchase, for example, assumes that we will live to use it. Any departure from home assumes that we will arrive somewhere else. No, it is not possible to exclude planning from our lives.
Lest we make wrong applications of his teaching, James tells us exactly what is objectionable (v. 16). It is sin to "rejoice [or glory] in your boastings," an unmistakable allusion to Proverbs 27:1: "Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth." Here we have another reminder that the Epistle of James falls in the tradition of Jewish Wisdom Literature. James is identifying two things as evil. The first is to make plans that ignore the hand of God ("boastings," which refers to plans assuming that oneself can really see the future). The second is to glory in those plans; in other words, to congratulate oneself for skill in managing the details of tomorrow. The second evil follows from the first because to exclude God from our picture of life’s outcomes creates a vacuum that human pride rushes to fill. If we do not see that the future depends on God, we will imagine ourselves to have power over the future. In essence, we will make ourselves gods. Presumptuous plans, forgetting that God can overrule, are therefore a form of idolatry.
When doing nothing is sin
In conclusion, James presents an important principle in the clearest and most succinct terms we find in Scripture. He says, "To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin" (v. 17). Many other texts build important conclusions on the same principle, although without making it explicit (Luke 12:47; John 9:41; 2 Pet. 2:21).
James’s formulation may be a lesson that he drew from Jesus’ parable of the two sons (Matt. 21:28-32). Their father directed them to go work in the vineyard. One refused, but later changed his mind and obeyed. The other agreed to go, but stayed away. His failure to do right was sin.
Or what James says may be his application of the so-called Golden Rule: "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets" (Matt. 7:12). Notice that Jesus’ actual words are far more demanding than the familiar words. He does not command, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." So stated, the rule merely prohibits things that we ourselves would not like to suffer. Rather, Jesus commands that we do every good thing we can imagine. To fall short of doing every good thing we can imagine is therefore sin, as James reminds us.
In context, the good that James is urging upon his readers is to heed his instruction in verse 15, where he told them to add, "If the Lord will," whenever they spoke of their plans. But he is also referring more generally to everything he has said so far in his epistle. He has offered many ways to do good. We should seek wisdom (Jas. 1:5), rejoice in humble circumstances (Jas. 1:9), visit the fatherless and widows (Jas. 1:27), etc. To neglect any of these admonitions is sin. We prefer to think of sin as a deliberate trespass of a negative law, such as "Thou shalt not kill." But our duty goes far beyond the mere avoidance of evil deeds. It takes in every good deed fulfilling a positive law, such as the preeminent requirements to love God with our whole being and to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Self-Test
2. Have I learned from experience that reality may spoil all my plans?
Young people immersed in today's media and public schools have learned the politically correct motto, "You can be whatever you want to be. Just pursue your dreams and you will see them come true." Suppose a young man decides to pursue his dream of becoming a nuclear physicist. Unfortunately, he cannot get passing grades in either algebra or geometry. He cannot even recognize an obtuse angle if it is turned slightly so that neither side is horizontal. The plan he has laid out for himself is nothing but empty boasting. If he sought the mind of God, he would discover a more realistic future.
It is important that children receive competent career guidance so that they will make plans based on their real gifts and abilities. The future within their reach depends on God's endowment rather than personal fancy.
3. Do I make plans that leave God out of the picture?
In every decision about the future, you should seek guidance from the One who holds the future, and to discover His will you should consult the teaching of Scripture and the inner witness of the Holy Spirit. If you shape your plans accordingly, submitting to God’s sovereignty with a glad rather than a begrudging spirit, you are declaring that you wish His will to prevail. Thus, you are in effect stamping your plans with the proviso, "God willing."
How often do we create problems for ourselves by forging down a certain path without consulting God first! David failed to ask God how to transport the ark, and a man died (2 Sam. 6:1-8). We can all think of illustrations from our own lives.
One in my own life a few years ago was useful as comic relief. Because it was nothing of serious consequence, it gave both me and my wife something to laugh about. Every morning for over a year I was going through a time-consuming ritual to obtain an allergy pill. Each was individually encased in a plastic cover, so I was using scissors to remove it, often crushing it in the process. After becoming very frustrated, I shared my problem with the Lord, adding some words that were not very complimentary to the manufacturer. It seemed to me that He said, "Have you looked at the directions?" I do not mean to be irreverent, but it almost seemed as if He spoke with a smile in His voice. When I took His advice, I discovered that all I had to do was push the pill on one side and it would pop out on the other. Instead of fuming and complaining, I should have been praying.
4. Do I faithfully remind myself and others that what happens depends on God?
It is especially important for our children to hear that God is in control. Otherwise, they develop anxieties about the future. It gives them a great sense of security if they feel that they can trust the future to God. I remember a famous preacher describing how much he worried as a young man that his best option for a wife would be dowdy, dumpy, and dull-witted. When God gave him the dream of his heart, he learned that the cure for worry was to wait on God’s will.
5. Do I ever take pride in detailed planning, as if this proves how well I can control my world?
In an age when nearly everybody has a pocket planner or day-timer or similar device to organize his future, it is easy to fall into this kind of pride. One test is whether you resent interruptions of your schedule. You cannot deny that these interruptions come from God. Therefore, if you resent them, you are criticizing His judgment and imagining that yours is superior.
6. Do I see failure in positive duty to be as sinful as any violation of a prohibition?
By this standard, we can hardly live or breathe without falling into sin. How much time do we give ourselves that we could give to helping others?
1. When I consider any human reckoning of the future, do I understand how shaky it is?
Do you leave room for other possibilities if God overrules? It is always wise to plan for the unexpected. When in years past the American government urged citizens to prepare for the next flu pandemic or the next terrorist attack, did anyone pay attention? We are all too preoccupied with making ends meet today to consider tomorrow, and if we consider tomorrow, we inevitably view it as a simple extension of today, making no allowance for any fundamental or radical changes.
But the Bible teaches that we are entering a period of history when there will be momentous wars and disasters on a scale people today can hardly imagine, and therefore the prediction seems like fantasy. But the truth is that God Himself will soon upset all human reckoning when He puts His hand into history again as He last did at the resurrection of Christ. Then He raised one man from the dead. Soon He will take living saints out of this world.