What to do about tomorrow. James 4.13-16

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.”  Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life?  You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.  Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”  As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil.  New International Version

No you listen, Brother James, have you forgotten Solomon wrote that ‘without vision, the people perish’?  At first glance, it sure seems like you are saying that planning is unnecessary, but that can’t be right!  One thing I have known about God since I was a little girl is that he is a God of order . . . my goodness, how many times is the ‘ant’ lauded because he works so hard laying up his food in the summer, planning ahead for winter!  No, James, you must not be saying that Christians should just live day-to-day, with no thought for the future. 

As I have studied this passage, I see the beauty in it—several things held in tension.  In our left hand, we hold today . . . ‘Teach us to count our days that we may gain a heart of wisdom,’¹ David said in the Psalms, referring to the brevity of life, and finding value and purpose in each day.  Oh, we must see life as the gift it is—given to us, one day at a time by God.   “He is reminding me to make the most of it...to not be idle (this life is a vapour).  I am reminded also to seek God first to ask him what is important to him, rather than just going on with what is important to me.” From my Facebook friend in Ontario, Canada.  While in our right hand, we must be keenly aware that he alone holds our future in his hands.  “You have decided the length of our lives. You know how many months we will live, and we are not given a minute longer.”²

However, we have a tipoff that something might be awry in verse 16, ‘you boast and brag,’ with reference to the business to be conducted, the money to be made … right?  So James holds up a hand in caution – ‘Wait a second, Christian.  Perhaps you might want to keep a couple things in mind—first, make sure your priorities are straight.  Are you seeking first his  kingdom?  Have you submitted yourself, and your plans, to your Lord?’  Þ“Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take.”³ 

Do you allow the Lord to lead and direct you, Friend?  Ask him to do so, look for his direction, following his leading—it is quite an adventure . . . really.   Understand that all you are and all you have are gifts from God; there is no room for braggadocio in your life. 

While God is a God of order, who honors vision and the hard work of the ant who stores up food for the winter, while we make plans, we truly must always bear in mind that we live this life in a flawed world.  We ought build into our lives some margins, that allow for the bumps of life, which inevitably come.  They are part of life on planet earth.  Margins also give God some room--they give him permission to do ‘a new thing’ in our lives . . . an unexpected, unplanned-for thing.  Sometimes the ‘unexpected’ is sheer joy from the start, other times it ushers in a time of difficulty . . . either way, in the life of the believer, in the life of she who places her hand in his hand, in the life of he who trusts an all-wise God, we always bear in mind that he works all things together for good for those who love him.⁴

That said, do I think that God wants to bless your efforts when ‘you go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business’?  Yes, I do!  Again, I refer to the psalmist, ‘May the favor of the Lord rest upon us, confirm and establish the work of our hands.  Yes, confirm and establish the work of our hands.’⁵  Pray for God’s favor on your life.  Simple.  Scriptural.  Blessed.

“Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives.”  The sand seems to drop faster and faster, does it not?  And the hourglass of my life has more sand on the bottom than it now does on the top, of that I am certain – and yet I remember, this world is not my home.  I am heaven bound and just passing through . . . so, what will I do about tomorrow?  I will make my plans, for tomorrow and maybe a little further down the road, but I will be mindful that the final outcome is in God’s hands.⁶

^{Grace, Peace to you . . .} 

^Christine

^podcast:

1  Psalm 90.12

2  Job 14.5

3  Proverbs 3.6, NLT

4  Romans 8.28

5  Psalm 90.17

6  Proverbs 16.1