God's purpose is greater than our plans (Pt.1)

(Part 1)

“Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil. Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.”-James 4:13-17

It is not very often that you will hear me quote director and actor Woody Allen in a sermon message or article that I write, but he did say something one time that marries well with this message and that is this:

“If you wan to make God laugh, tell Him about your plans.”

Every person reading this article at some point has had some part of their life planned out. We planned where we would go to school, where we wanted to live, who we would marry, how many kids we’d like to have, and our career path. I wonder how many of you are still on tack with what you had planned? Most of us, I would bet, have already had to make some detours along the way. Because regardless of how much we may want something to happen, we are not in control of every circumstance, feeling, and decision that affects our life. A car wreck, pregnancy, lay off, divorce, and untimely death of a loved one can completely shipwreck our plans. All of a sudden those plans vanish. Now we are running blind. No road map. No real direction. It is usually in moments like this that we turn to God. 

However, regardless of how long we have been saved we all have a tendency to gravitate towards self-reliance. The moment that things begin to go well again, we recover, we get a new job, marry a new spouse we quickly gravitate back to the drawing board to plan our lives. 

We don’t sing Jesus take the wheel, we sing Jesus take the wheel, until I’m ready to drive again. This is a form of boasting. Webster defines boasting as to talk with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one’s achievements. This definition, however, although true, is also lacking. James teaches us in this passage that boasting is a disguise for self-sufficiency and self-confidence. 

“Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.”-James 4:13

Notice the phrasing “We are going to a certain town” and “We will do business and make a profit”. Listen to how these words ooze with self-sufficiency and self-confidence. More importantly, they are communicating that we are in control and the master of our own fate. 

Although, God is certainly not against us making plans, His caution is that we stop making plans without consulting Him! 

Pastor Scott Burr

Dayspring Community Church