Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. — James 4:14
Ask anyone who knows me and they will tell you that I am a planner. I love to have things planned so there are little questions about what is going to happen. That may drive a lot of people crazy though. Many people like to take things in life as they happen.
In either case, we generally all think about tomorrow. We say things we want to do tomorrow. There may be places we want to go tomorrow. We often talk about tomorrow and many times we have our entire day planned out as if we know exactly what tomorrow is going to hold.
That is the idea that James writes about here. He suggests that the people are planning their lives as if tomorrow is a given. He says we do not know what tomorrow will hold and that’s because we are incapable of seeing the future. We can anticipate the future, expect the future, hope for the future, but we cannot guarantee the future.
In verse 15 James writes, “ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.” It is not that having expectations for the future is a bad thing necessarily. Having expectations and plans for the future that do not incorporate God’s will is a bad thing.
Many times we make plans without considering what God would want or what God’s will is. Perhaps we plan our lives away, leaving little room for God in them. As we plan our future, it should be centered around the will of God. Our focus on tomorrow can only be in the right perspective when we look through the lens of God’s will.
