“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” James 4:13-17
This being the week of Thanksgiving, it seems good time to return to the source of all blessings to remember our dependence upon His provision to prompt greater appreciation for the bounty we enjoy. While we must be confident in our capacity to complete an intended aim, we must never take success for granted. Having cut our teeth in what may be the most prosperous nation in history, with more opportunity for everyday people than most could imagine, the principle in view today may prove to be especially difficult. Truly, every success we enjoy, every triumph we experience, every good thing we know in this life is a gift from God above (James 1:17). Without His blessing it, no endeavor we take in hand will succeed. As Paul put it in 1 Corinthians 4:7, “What do you have that you did not receive?”
Now, this is not intended to dissuade planning, preparation, and working hard for our various pursuits in life. The Bible speaks plainly to the need to make such preparations. In Proverbs 21:5, we read that “The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, but those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty.” Perhaps the greatest treatise on the necessity of planning and working hard to prosper is that of Proverbs 6:6-11 stating, “Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, Which, having no captain, Overseer or ruler, provides her supplies in the summer, and gathers her food in the harvest. How long will you slumber, O sluggard? When will you rise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep— So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler, And your need like an armed man.” To be sure, the Lord’s provisions for our success depend on our participation in the economic system, but we must never allow the commonality of success in our system to promote taking such for granted or thinking we built it with our own might (cf. Daniel 4:28-33).
James 4:13-17 reveals the proper posture to promote our well-being and keep our hearts filled with the gratitude which ought to characterize us. Five key takeaways from this text ought to help keep us in check. First, we must remember the uncertainty of earthly gain (4:13-14a). Second, we must remember the frailty of our lives (4:13b; cf. Job 7:7; Psalms 102:3; Isaiah 40:6-8; 1 Peter 1:24). Third, with the above in view, we must remember our complete dependence on God’s blessings (4:15). Fourth, if we must recognize that boasting in our own capacity makes us guilty of the evil of arrogance (4:16). Finally, knowing such is the right course of action, if we fail to do so, we sin against our God (4:17).
Though we may not have thought too much about this situation, the gravity of proper perspective in these matters should not be underestimated. If we proceed with plans and fail to recognize their dependence on God’s blessings, we take the glory for our successes to ourselves, a glory which belongs to Him. Such is similar to Moses’ sin in the wilderness that cost him his place in the promised land (Numbers 20:8-13). As we prepare to give thanks as a nation, may we all remember that our every success depends on the Lord’s blessing, and in so doing create the attitude of gratitude at the heart of a faithful disciple. In other words, we must not count our chickens before they hatch.