If the Lord Wills: Planning, Wisdom, and Obedience

James 4:13-17 puts ordinary plans under the light of God’s rule. James is not against business, profit, college, careers, dating, vacations, or a good meal. James is against making plans like life belongs to the person making them, when every breath, every tomorrow, and every opportunity depends on God. Life is a mist that shows up for a little while and then vanishes, so nobody gets to act like tomorrow is guaranteed.

Friendship with the world shows up in more than the big obvious sins. Friendship with the world can look like saying someone follows Jesus while making decisions by the same rules as everybody else: do whatever feels good, do whatever pays the most, and hope it all works out. James says that is like switching from Uno to Phase 10 but continuing to play Uno. Somebody says the game has changed, but keeps living by the old rules.

James says, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” Those words are not a magic phrase to tack onto every plan. God is not asking for “Lord willing” to become religious filler. God is calling His people to actually consider Him before decisions are made. The issue is not whether somebody says the right words. The issue is whether somebody who says, “I belong to Jesus,” acts like Jesus has any right to speak into the plan.

James exposes the childishness of making plans without considering the Father. A child makes plans with a friend, ignores what his parents already said, assumes their resources and time belong to him, then acts like the parents are the problem when they say no. God provides life, food, clothing, money, and every day people get to live, yet arrogance turns around and blames God when self-made plans fall apart.

James gives a middle way between doing whatever the world does and sitting at a stop sign waiting for God to say left or right. God’s people should ask what God has already told them to do, what they will need from God for this plan to work, and what God’s plan already is for their lives. James calls it sin when somebody knows the right thing and chooses not to do it. Plans become evil boasting when they ignore God’s commands, spend God’s provision carelessly, or pull somebody away from what God has clearly called them to do.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Consider God before making plans James does not demand paralysis or a special word formula. God calls believers to make real decisions while remembering that life, ability, opportunity, and tomorrow are all in His hands. A plan that begins by ignoring God will often end by blaming God when it breaks. [43:42]
• 2. Obedience comes before personal preference God’s commands do not become optional because entertainment, comfort, or a better opportunity shows up. A believer cannot honestly say there is no time for prayer, Scripture, fellowship, generosity, or responsibility while finding time and money for personal wants. Saying no to God while saying yes to self reveals a deeper problem than the activity itself. [57:15]
• 3. Dependence requires honest stewardship God provides for real needs, but presumption treats His provision like permission to be careless. A vacation, fast food, or any other ordinary expense is not automatically sinful, yet spending money needed for commitments and emergencies assumes God must rescue choices He was never consulted about. Faith does not use God as the backup plan for avoidable irresponsibility. [61:33]
• 4. God’s calling belongs in every decision God may give freedom in many choices, but He also gives clear direction at times. A job, house, activity, or promotion must be measured against what God has already made clear, including a person’s place in the body and responsibility to serve. Knowing the right thing and refusing it is not a small oversight; James calls it sin.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [27:22] - Thankfulness and Parenting Seasons
• [29:32] - Training Kids to Make Wise Decisions
• [31:19] - Dating With Marriage in Mind
• [33:40] - Wisdom for College and Career
• [36:04] - The Middle Way of Wise Planning
• [37:35] - Friendship With the World
• [39:57] - James 4:13-17
• [42:20] - Life Is a Mist
• [43:42] - Plans That Consider God
• [46:30] - A Child’s Plans and the Father’s Plans
• [52:38] - The Sin of Omission
• [56:36] - What Has God Already Told You?
• [59:49] - What Will This Plan Require From God?
• [68:19] - What Is God’s Plan for You?
• [74:36] - Humility, Repentance, and Moving Forward

Bible Reading

James 4:13–17
“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'— 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. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.' As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.” [00:39:57]

James 4:4
“You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.” [00:37:35]

Matthew 6:33
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” [00:56:36]

Observation questions

1. In James 4:13–17, what details do the planners seem confident about, and what does James say they do not know?
2. What picture does James use to describe human life, and how does that picture challenge the way people normally speak about tomorrow? [00:42:20]
3. What is the difference between saying “If the Lord wills” as a repeated phrase and truly considering God while making a decision? [00:45:04]
4. What three questions help a believer consider God before making a plan? [00:56:15]

Interpretation questions

1. James does not condemn travel, work, trade, or profit. What makes ordinary plans become arrogant boasting before God? [00:43:42]
2. How does friendship with the world show up in decision-making, even when a person is not involved in an obvious public sin? [00:39:04]
3. James 4:17 calls it sin to know the right thing and fail to do it. How does this apply when God has already made something clear through His commands, but a person chooses comfort, entertainment, or personal opportunity instead? [00:57:15]
4. Matthew 6:33 says to seek God’s kingdom first. How might that change the way a believer weighs a job offer, a move, a college choice, or a child’s activity? [01:09:32]

Application questions

1. What plan or decision is most in front of you right now—work, school, money, dating, family, housing, travel, or something else? Have you truly brought God into that decision, or have you mostly decided what you want and asked Him to make it work? [01:13:15]
2. What has God already clearly told you to do through Scripture that may be getting pushed aside by your schedule? Consider prayer, time in God’s Word, fellowship, generosity, serving, keeping your word, or caring for others. [00:58:24]
3. Is there an area where you regularly say, “I do not have time” for what God has called you to do, while still finding time for things you want to do? What would it look like to honestly reorder that part of life? [00:59:07]
4. Are there any spending habits that may be keeping you from paying commitments, preparing for emergencies, giving generously, or helping others? What is one practical change that would be wise and faithful? [01:02:54]
5. Think about a choice you are considering. What will you need from God for that choice to work—not only money, but health, strength, time, wisdom, relationships, and open doors? How should that dependence shape the decision before you move forward? [00:59:49]
6. Has God placed you in a church body, a ministry, a family responsibility, or another clear calling that could be affected by a new opportunity? How can you weigh the opportunity without treating God’s existing direction as unimportant? [01:10:40]
7. When a self-made plan falls apart, is your first response more likely to be frustration toward God or honest repentance? What would it look like to say, “I chose this without considering God,” and then humbly move forward? [01:14:42]