If God Permits
While we were going through Hebrews 6 this past Sunday, we came upon this verse: “And this we will do if God permits.” (Hebrews 6:3) In context, ‘this’ is referring to leaving the elementary teachings of Christ. One of the cross references was James 4:13-15, which is the passage we are going to look at today.
Jas 4:13 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”—
Jas 4:14 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.
Jas 4:15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
Jas 4:16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
Jas 4:17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
—James 4:13-17
We see the same “If the Lord wills,” in verse 15. I don’t know about you, but it’s much easier to say, “Tomorrow, I plan to…” It’s not always boasting, but it’s often planning without considering what God would have me do. Can we see this is much more of a ‘My will be done’ rather than a ‘Thy will be done’ attitude? That’s arrogance. It’s not just the self-centeredness of it, which is a problem itself. The fact we think we have any control over tomorrow is quite arrogant. Even a simple thing like going to school/work and making it home in one piece is the mercy of God, NOT us showing we have control over the events of the day. He permitted this to happen for us, yet everyday this is not the case for some people in the world. Were they less powerful people who didn’t know how to exert power of external events? Were they just ‘unlucky’? Of course not! If we have a sovereign God (We do!), then it’s actually not about us, but about what HE permits. Do we take this attitude towards life? If not, we need to humble ourselves and repent of our arrogance.
So, if it’s all about what God permits, then who cares what we do? Well, God does! So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. (James 4:17) God cares an awful lot about sin. He can’t have sin in His presence. He demands an atonement for sin. He sent Jesus to die as THE atonement for our sins! Does that sound like a God who takes sin seriously? You bet! Also, God cares a lot about us doing the right thing. He gave us a standard of right living by which to live. He gave us many commands about putting those things into practice, encouraging each other to do them, and teaching others how to do them. Yet, we know ALL of this only happens if God permits. HE calls us. HE gives us the desire to answer the call. HE helps us grow. HE gives us the desire to grow. HE sustains us. HE changes our hearts towards sin. HE humbles us. HE decides how/if HE will use us. Are you sensing a pattern here? We could add hundreds of ways HE is really the one behind every good thing about us. When we look at James 4:17, we often think about ‘right living’ vs ‘wrong living,’ which is not a wrong way of thinking. However, before we consider those things, do we FIRST come to God in humility and confession over the ways we have not done right, or our arrogance, or our ungratefulness? Isn’t that the ‘right thing to do’ which should precede all other ‘right things’? If you didn’t get the chance to listen to Jesus, I Come To Thee yesterday, I hope you will take a few minutes to do so. Read those lyrics with fresh eyes! Consider those lyrics along with these words from God in James 4:13-17! Do you get it? We can only come to God through Jesus, BECAUSE GOD PERMITS! Have you thanked Him for that yet today?