The Folly of Planning Without God: James Lesson 25

Sometimes our life’s problems are a lot less complicated and difficult to solve than we think they are. Sometimes they are just not that hard to figure out. 

Case in point: There was a couple that went out to a five-star restaurant to celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary. About halfway through the meal, the husband realized that there was something wrong with his baked potato, so he called the waitress over to the table and told her that his potato was “bad.” 

The waitress immediately picked up his plate, smacked the potato around, and set his plate back on the table. 

Now the man was a bit flabbergasted by this and just starred at the waitress for a few seconds in disbelief. So, the waitress just leaned over and said, “Now, if that potato gives you any more trouble just let me know.”

Not that hard. Simple problem. Easy to resolve right.

And in James chapter 4, James gives us an equally easy answer to the church that quarrels and fights. 

He says: “1 What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?”

The answer to the question that James poses here is quite simple – it is the passions that are at war within us. It is the ungodly desires within us that cause these quarrels and fights among us.

We want what we want, and we don’t mind taking things to the extreme to get what we want. 

And there in lies the problem. We are inherently self-centered – we are inherently hedonistic. That is the simple truth. And it is in this setting and this context that we find James bringing up the issue of boasting about tomorrow. 

Let’s read verses 13-17: “13 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’— 14 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. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”

Illustration: The Illusion of Control

Imagine you’re on a sailing trip with some friends, charting a course across the ocean. You meticulously plan the journey, you consider wind patterns, the currents, and the ideal ports of call. 

Your excitement builds as you envision the adventure ahead – you think that the trip will be filled with fellowship, beautiful sunrises and breathtaking sunsets.

But as you set sail, unexpected storms arise – the winds shift unpredictably, and your carefully laid plans begin to unravel right in front of you. Suddenly, the safety and certainty you imagined vanish into uncertainty. 

You realize that despite your expertise and preparation, the sea remains untamed and beyond your control.

This scenario mirrors the reality of life depicted in James 4:13-17. Like sailors, we often meticulously plan out our life, confident in our ability to steer our destinies. 

Yet, James challenges this presumption, reminding us of the fragility of our plans and the sovereignty of God over our lives.

Scripture Breakdown

“13 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’— 14 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. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”

James starts off by describing people who confidently outline their future with a good deal of planning. These people plan to travel to a certain town, they plan to stay there for a year, they plan to conduct business in that town, and they expect financial gain from their business endeavors. 

They’ve given this a good deal of thought. 

Now in a cultural context, the people James is referring to were probably the wealthier quote end quote “Christians” who had the financial means and resources to travel and stay in a town for a year. To add to this, these people had something else – they had something to trade. 

They knew that what they had to trade was of value to the people of the town that they were traveling to.

This implies that these people had some form of knowledge about business and trade – they knew that what they had to trade had a specific value to the town they would be visiting and that what they had to trade would bring them a profit. 

They were business-minded people, and they were thoughtful about what they wanted to do and how they were going to go about making a profit.

This Scripture should ultimately lead us to ask a few logical questions.

Is it right to plan out trips? Is it right to plan out business endeavors? Is it right to plan out our future?

Well, the simple answer to these questions is, yes! It is ok to plan out your future. 

You can make plans to attend a university. You can make plans about your career or vocation. You can make plans for your retirement. You can make plans for trips. You can make plans for your business endeavors. You can make plans for raising your children. 

The fact is – you should be making plans. 

In fact, Proverbs 16:3 says this: “Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established.” 

And when Jesus is talking about the cost of discipleship in Luke 14:27-33, Jesus says this: 

“’27 And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. 28 “Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it? 29 For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, 30 saying, ‘This person began to build and wasn’t able to finish.’ 31 “Or suppose a king is about to go to war against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 If he is not able, he will send a delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of peace. 33 In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.’”

Do you see the plan here? 

The plan here is to carry your cross and give up everything else!

So, from a wholistic Biblical perspective and the context provided in the passage, we can see that James is not making an argument against making plans. 

James isn’t saying, “Now listen up, don’t go around making plans.” No that would be an unwise statement and a statement like that would be contrary to what Scripture teaches about making plans. 

And understanding this should lead us to another question – what is James addressing here? What is James trying to get across here? 

The answer: James is addressing an attitude of the heart that is all too familiar in our world today – an attitude of heart that is driven by self-centeredness and arrogance. 

It is an attitude of the world. It is an attitude that we see being expressed everywhere – in movies, in TV shows, on social media, and even in some churches.

And this isn’t the first time that James has addressed this heart issue. 

In fact, James addresses the attitude of the heart repeatedly throughout the book of James. We see James addressing the attitude of the heart in the context of faith and we see James addressing it in the context of wisdom throughout this book. 

And we also see James addressing the outward manifestations of the attitude of the heart by talking about our words and our actions in each of those given contexts. And here are just two examples for us to think about:

In terms of faith, we see James addressing the differences between being a hearer and doer of the word in chapter 1. 

In terms of wisdom, we see James addressing the difference between the wisdom from above and the wisdom from below in chapter 3. 

The reality is that the whole book of James calls us to carefully and prayerfully examine our words and our actions because they reveal the attitude of our heart! 

This is why Proverbs 4:23 says this, “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” 

And this is why Jesus said in Luke 6:45 “The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”

James keeps going back to the attitude of the heart. 

And in terms of this specific passage James is addressing the attitude of heart in those wealthier quote end quote “Christians” who say that they are going to a certain town to trade and make a profit. 

Again, there is nothing wrong with making plans. 

The problem lies within how these people go about making their plans. 

Given this, James quickly addresses this problem by first offering a reality check – they do not know what tomorrow holds. 

This is the reality of our life – we do not know what tomorrow may bring. We cannot see into the future, and we do not have the ability to accurately predict the future. It just doesn’t work that way. 

Tomorrow could be a great day. Tomorrow could be a horrible day. Or we could die tomorrow. We simply do not know! And it would be utter foolishness for us to presume to know what tomorrow may bring.

The fact is, and James addresses this so well, life is fragile and fleeting – like a “mist” that appears briefly and then immediately disappears. 

In verse 14, the word “mist” here is the Greek word “at-mece'” (pronounced atmis) and it refers to the breath you see coming out of your mouth on a cold winter’s day. That’s how long our life is, and James wanted his audience to know that. 

He wanted them and us to know that we may be here today, but we may be gone tomorrow. We are not promised tomorrow or even the next five seconds. 

This leads me to share a story with you. 

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine called me up and started to share a personal experience that he had just gone through. 

He was mentoring two young men who were in their twenties who had been referred to him by their parents – helping them to find good jobs that could lead to long-term caress. 

Both young men ended up getting hired by the same company within a few days of each other and so, to celebrate my friend took them out to lunch at a fancy five-star restaurant. 

While they were all having lunch the two young men expressed their thankfulness to my friend for his mentorship and soon after they started to talk about what they were going to do with the money they would be making. 

They talked about buying properties, houses, and investment opportunities – my friend said that they just seemed so excited about the new jobs and the money that they would be making. 

My friend said that after they had all eaten lunch and parted ways, he went back to his office feeling happy over having the opportunity to help these two young men. 

Yet, within a matter of an hour things changed dramatically. 

My friend said he got a call informing him that the two young men were involved in a tragic accident after leaving the restaurant and that one of the young men died in the accident. 

I know that this is a tragic story to share, however this is the reality of our lives. We are not promised tomorrow. 

These two young men had dreams and they had plans, but in a matter of a few seconds all that drastically change. 

And this is something that we should take seriously. James’ warning about our live being but a “mist” is not something to take lightly or be indifferent to. James is being dead serious here. 

He wants us to know just how short our lives actually are!

But James doesn’t stop there… he goes on to give them some simple advice – advice that we all should apply to our lives today. 

He says, “Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’”

Not only is James providing sound counsel here – counsel that we should apply to our own lives, but he is also peeling back the layers to reveal the true problem – the issue of the attitude of the heart. 

You see these folks were making all kinds of strategic and thoughtful plans, but these plans did not include God or even acknowledge God. 

Their plans were made in the arrogance of self-reliance and self-dependance. They were self-centered plans and James calls them out on it.

He says, “As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.” 

These people arrogantly boasted in their own self-reliance and James calls this boasting evil! 

But let’s remember something here. 

James isn’t just calling out the wealthier Christian-Jews of the time – he is calling all of us out! 

And let’s just be honest today – As believers, how many times have we made plans that did not include or even acknowledge God only to turn around and boast about out plans? 

Think about that for a moment. Did you plan a nice vacation to Hawaii without God and then turn around and boast about where you were going? Did you create a strategic plan for a ministry without God and then boast about the potential outcomes?

Considering these questions with all honesty, let’s ask another question - why is it evil to boast? 

Well, there are two main reasons why boasting is evil. 

The first reason is that God says boasting is evil and that is the simple answer. If God says something is evil, that should be enough for us. 

Yet, God in His goodness, sheds light on why bosting is evil. 

This type of boasting comes from a place of prideful arrogance. It’s vain, selfish, and conceited. It gives the appearance that we somehow know what tomorrow will bring and that we are in control of our own destiny. 

And Proverbs 27:1 warns us about this. It says, “Do not boast about tomorrow,

for you do not know what a day may bring.”

The second reason why boasting is evil is that this type of boasting sets the stage for jealousy, envy, and contention within the body of believers. 

Remember that James started this off by asking an important question in verse 1, “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you?”

If we are boasting in arrogance, we set the stage for jealousy, envy, and contention to enter the hearts of other believers which can lead to quarrels and fights.

That is not the only possibility though – if we boast in arrogance, we can also offend our brothers and sisters in Christ which will only led to further division within the church. 

Now I don’t know about you, but I’ll admit that I have boasted about my plans a few times over the years, and I am not proud of it. It was evil, it was wrong, and I’ve repented! 

And this is the place that we should come to as we study through the book of James today – a place of recognizing our heart problems through the wisdom of God’s Word and a place of true repentance. 

It is not enough to simply know what is right and then not do anything about it because James goes on to say this, “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”

This is something we need to understand and if you are taking notes, write this down: Knowing the difference between right and wrong holds no true value unless we do what is right in the sight of the Lord. 

So, what should we do when we know the difference between right and wrong in this context? Or better put, how should we go about planning our life? 

Well, I am not going to give you five steps to living your best life now – I am just going to give you some simple Biblical truths to apply to your life. 

We must trust in the absolute Sovereignty of God.

We must trust that “In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,” Ephesians 1:11

We must trust “that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28

We must trust that “by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” Colossians 1:16-17

We must commit everything we do and say to God.

“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Colossians 3:17

In other words, going back to one of the central messages here, we must humble ourselves before God and submit ourselves to Him. 

And before we close today, I want to give you an assignment – some homework if you will. 

I want you to go to your prayer closet this afternoon or this evening and pray Psalm 139:23-24.

“Search me, O God, and know my heart!

Try me and know my thoughts!

And see if there be any grievous way in me,

and lead me in the way everlasting!”

Let’s pray.