Presumption:
James 4:13-16 says, "Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.’ Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.’ But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil."
Boy is it easy to presume things for our life. After all we believe we have all the time in the world to accomplish “our” plans. Yet we are not even sure we have time five minutes from now. I can tell you truthfully from my own life that we have no idea that what we envision for ourselves or others will unfold in the way we hope or plan for in life. We would like to believe that all our plans would come as we hope but that doesn’t mean they will.
Now let me state outright that planning is good, normal, and healthy. But I can and must say that when planning becomes presumption, we have crossed the line into sin. When things don’t unfold as we had assumed they would or as we had planned, it is easy to get angry or bitter against God or other people. The thing is though that we recognize that God is in control and we are not, it is much easier to be flexible and pliable to the plans of God as they unfold. I am not against long term thinking, mid-term planning, or short-term projections. Such are a necessary part of business and life in general. But any accomplished and honest businessman can tell you that one of the most important things about management is being willing to seize opportunities as they come which can and does result in deviating from the specifics of the plan at times. You might be walking one day on what you think/believe is your destiny into having what you think/believe is what you want and God might have an altogether different plan for your life. He might close the doors you thought were open while opening doors for your life you never even considered. Since God can see the entire picture of our life and planned for our life He might have altogether a different format for us than what we thought was going to happen in our life and goals.
The same is true in the Christian life. We know the general direction we are to go. For example, we should read God’s Word, pray, train our children to obey the Lord, fellowship with other believers, love our spouses, etc. But I know I would have driven myself crazy if I had tried to decide where my kids were going to go to college because they also have a say so in their life and what they wanted to do with their life…and then there is God who also might take them a different direction than the way I planned for them. Some parents believe they have their child’s future all sorted out and that their kids will go to such and such college to become such and such when the child doesn’t want any part of that goal we believe we made for them and we did/do it in good faith. We raise our children up to know and love God and know right from wrong. That is what we are to do. Their destiny we can think we can control but we really have no complete control over anyone else. We can tell, suggest, and hope for things but ultimately it is between God and them and we must deal with our own life. There are many things we absolutely would not choose for our kids but there comes a day they grow up and have to learn some things for themselves and make mistakes for themselves just as we had to do. Our job is to train them in the Lord but we can’t force them to love Jesus any more than someone could force us to.
When we start thinking that we have our future all lined up and figured out, we risk the sin of presumption. God doesn’t mind us planning and being wise stewards of time, energy, and resources. But what He doesn’t take glory in is us imposing our will upon Him such that we don’t remain pliable to His plans as they unfold tomorrow. In truth we have no clue what really will happen (for sure) tomorrow in our life because we don’t know if our very life will be called for this very night.
We are not allowed to worry about tomorrow (Matthew 6:34), and here in James we are told not to presume upon tomorrow. Frankly, as James alludes, we don’t even know if we will be alive tomorrow. We might go to bed tonight and never wake up. That is not meant to be a morbid thought, but it is meant to be a sobering thought. Christians are called to walk soberly because we have a sober calling (e.g. 1 Peter 4:7, 5:8, 2 Timothy 4:5). Life is short, our mission is clear, and our calling is serious. God wants us to daily take up our crosses, deny ourselves, and follow Him for this day…right now…(Luke 9:23), regardless of what He ordains to come our way this day or tomorrow, or even next week or year. He gives us daily bread for our daily needs (Matthew 6:11). Daily we need to seek our Lord for daily provision. Then tomorrow, we should do the same because our tomorrow then becomes our today. Again, this does not negate planning, for choices we make today are often in light of consequences of the future. But the key is that we cannot presume upon certain future events unfolding in our lives on earth when we make our decisions today. We are not God, and such thinking is pure arrogance. It will only lead to stress and worry as we struggle and strive to make things fit exactly as we had envisioned them. God doesn’t want us to boast about anything, including our own power to control our own destinies. The key is that we must retain an attitude in our hearts which says, "If the Lord wills" (c.f. Paul in Acts 18:21). This is a humble, proper attitude before a Sovereign Lord which acknowledges that our days and times are in His hands, not ours.
What God is after is a heart attitude that does not presume which would otherwise cause us to boast in our own power and self-sufficiency. He wants hearts that acknowledge that He is over all things, including our lives and including our tomorrows. If God wills, we will get married, have kids, get that job, sell that house, seal that deal, get that contract, etc. We might be good at what we do, but we are not God. We might be skilled or visionary, but we are not sovereign. We might be good as making things happen, but we are not all-powerful. God’s plans cannot be thwarted, but ours can be and regularly are. God doesn’t want us to presume upon our ability to carry out our vision and plans, but He does want us yield to His plans and purposes for our lives, whether at home, at work, at school, or anywhere and anytime. You very might get all your plans and dreams accomplished in your life just as you set goals, but if you don’t then God had a different road and plan for you. This is one of the predominant ways in which we fulfill God’s command in Proverbs 3:6 to acknowledge God in all of our ways. The result is that God will direct our paths, making our way straight. He will take us where He knows we ought to go if we let Him. Arrogance opposes God, and God opposes the arrogant (James 4:6). But He gives grace to the humble, to those who seek His will and yield to His leading.
Let us not grow arrogant and fall for the sin of presumption, but let us rather willingly and humbly follow God as He leads. Let us say with David, "My times are in Your hand" (Psalm 31:15).
Right this moment as I put this on my site I have no clue who will read it and it mean something to them, or that they know someone to share it with. Our lives are entwined and we should care about each other. It is hard making it through this world with all of its hate and stuff going on. Many people are deeply hurting right now. I think more than in other times in world history…but even then I look back and millions didn’t have it so good either. People were killed for hateful reasons and so on. All we have is this moment…maybe tomorrow/maybe not. We can’t be sure. So while we have this moment…let us love others, be kind, make our plans but make them so that when God takes us a different route we say to Him, “Your will be done”. May you have a blessed day and may we both have a tomorrow that is full of love and God.
James 4:13-16 says, "Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.’ Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.’ But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil."
Boy is it easy to presume things for our life. After all we believe we have all the time in the world to accomplish “our” plans. Yet we are not even sure we have time five minutes from now. I can tell you truthfully from my own life that we have no idea that what we envision for ourselves or others will unfold in the way we hope or plan for in life. We would like to believe that all our plans would come as we hope but that doesn’t mean they will.
Now let me state outright that planning is good, normal, and healthy. But I can and must say that when planning becomes presumption, we have crossed the line into sin. When things don’t unfold as we had assumed they would or as we had planned, it is easy to get angry or bitter against God or other people. The thing is though that we recognize that God is in control and we are not, it is much easier to be flexible and pliable to the plans of God as they unfold. I am not against long term thinking, mid-term planning, or short-term projections. Such are a necessary part of business and life in general. But any accomplished and honest businessman can tell you that one of the most important things about management is being willing to seize opportunities as they come which can and does result in deviating from the specifics of the plan at times. You might be walking one day on what you think/believe is your destiny into having what you think/believe is what you want and God might have an altogether different plan for your life. He might close the doors you thought were open while opening doors for your life you never even considered. Since God can see the entire picture of our life and planned for our life He might have altogether a different format for us than what we thought was going to happen in our life and goals.
The same is true in the Christian life. We know the general direction we are to go. For example, we should read God’s Word, pray, train our children to obey the Lord, fellowship with other believers, love our spouses, etc. But I know I would have driven myself crazy if I had tried to decide where my kids were going to go to college because they also have a say so in their life and what they wanted to do with their life…and then there is God who also might take them a different direction than the way I planned for them. Some parents believe they have their child’s future all sorted out and that their kids will go to such and such college to become such and such when the child doesn’t want any part of that goal we believe we made for them and we did/do it in good faith. We raise our children up to know and love God and know right from wrong. That is what we are to do. Their destiny we can think we can control but we really have no complete control over anyone else. We can tell, suggest, and hope for things but ultimately it is between God and them and we must deal with our own life. There are many things we absolutely would not choose for our kids but there comes a day they grow up and have to learn some things for themselves and make mistakes for themselves just as we had to do. Our job is to train them in the Lord but we can’t force them to love Jesus any more than someone could force us to.
When we start thinking that we have our future all lined up and figured out, we risk the sin of presumption. God doesn’t mind us planning and being wise stewards of time, energy, and resources. But what He doesn’t take glory in is us imposing our will upon Him such that we don’t remain pliable to His plans as they unfold tomorrow. In truth we have no clue what really will happen (for sure) tomorrow in our life because we don’t know if our very life will be called for this very night.
We are not allowed to worry about tomorrow (Matthew 6:34), and here in James we are told not to presume upon tomorrow. Frankly, as James alludes, we don’t even know if we will be alive tomorrow. We might go to bed tonight and never wake up. That is not meant to be a morbid thought, but it is meant to be a sobering thought. Christians are called to walk soberly because we have a sober calling (e.g. 1 Peter 4:7, 5:8, 2 Timothy 4:5). Life is short, our mission is clear, and our calling is serious. God wants us to daily take up our crosses, deny ourselves, and follow Him for this day…right now…(Luke 9:23), regardless of what He ordains to come our way this day or tomorrow, or even next week or year. He gives us daily bread for our daily needs (Matthew 6:11). Daily we need to seek our Lord for daily provision. Then tomorrow, we should do the same because our tomorrow then becomes our today. Again, this does not negate planning, for choices we make today are often in light of consequences of the future. But the key is that we cannot presume upon certain future events unfolding in our lives on earth when we make our decisions today. We are not God, and such thinking is pure arrogance. It will only lead to stress and worry as we struggle and strive to make things fit exactly as we had envisioned them. God doesn’t want us to boast about anything, including our own power to control our own destinies. The key is that we must retain an attitude in our hearts which says, "If the Lord wills" (c.f. Paul in Acts 18:21). This is a humble, proper attitude before a Sovereign Lord which acknowledges that our days and times are in His hands, not ours.
What God is after is a heart attitude that does not presume which would otherwise cause us to boast in our own power and self-sufficiency. He wants hearts that acknowledge that He is over all things, including our lives and including our tomorrows. If God wills, we will get married, have kids, get that job, sell that house, seal that deal, get that contract, etc. We might be good at what we do, but we are not God. We might be skilled or visionary, but we are not sovereign. We might be good as making things happen, but we are not all-powerful. God’s plans cannot be thwarted, but ours can be and regularly are. God doesn’t want us to presume upon our ability to carry out our vision and plans, but He does want us yield to His plans and purposes for our lives, whether at home, at work, at school, or anywhere and anytime. You very might get all your plans and dreams accomplished in your life just as you set goals, but if you don’t then God had a different road and plan for you. This is one of the predominant ways in which we fulfill God’s command in Proverbs 3:6 to acknowledge God in all of our ways. The result is that God will direct our paths, making our way straight. He will take us where He knows we ought to go if we let Him. Arrogance opposes God, and God opposes the arrogant (James 4:6). But He gives grace to the humble, to those who seek His will and yield to His leading.
Let us not grow arrogant and fall for the sin of presumption, but let us rather willingly and humbly follow God as He leads. Let us say with David, "My times are in Your hand" (Psalm 31:15).
Right this moment as I put this on my site I have no clue who will read it and it mean something to them, or that they know someone to share it with. Our lives are entwined and we should care about each other. It is hard making it through this world with all of its hate and stuff going on. Many people are deeply hurting right now. I think more than in other times in world history…but even then I look back and millions didn’t have it so good either. People were killed for hateful reasons and so on. All we have is this moment…maybe tomorrow/maybe not. We can’t be sure. So while we have this moment…let us love others, be kind, make our plans but make them so that when God takes us a different route we say to Him, “Your will be done”. May you have a blessed day and may we both have a tomorrow that is full of love and God.
