Speaking of the Future (James 4:13-17)

James has already said a great deal about the misuse of the tongue and he now mentions another aspect of such misuse, which was when some of his readers expressed their intentions for the future without considering whether or not God would approve of their plans. I suppose one feature of their lives during this period of trouble that they were going through was the uncertainty that marked it. Maybe they were trying to find ways of obtaining security and stability and had decided to take matters into their own hands. One obvious option for them would be to go to other cities in which there were Jewish communities and try and re-establish themselves there. So James as their pastor gives them spiritual counsel concerning their outlook.

The limitations of humans

James points out several weaknesses that should cause us to be very careful regarding our speech. The first is our ignorance of the future. James is not suggesting that we should not plan ahead. Instead he is rebuking assumptions that we can make about our involvement in the future, and also assuming that whatever the future will hold will turn out to be good. Connected to his rebuke is the issue of what are our priorities for the future. It is obvious that the plans devised by his readers were selfish, with no concern for others, and that is surprising given that many of the recipients of the letter had lost their possessions and needed help.

The second detail that James mentions is the shortness and fragility of life, which he likens to temporary mist. Even the longest life is relatively short, especially in light of eternity. When it is over, what will we have? This is one of the issues raised in the Book of Ecclesiastes where the wise author considers the various achievements of life and asks what real benefits come from them. His conclusion in one place is that fearing God and keeping his commandments is what gives significance to life.

Why do people have this attitude to the future? It may be that they are trying to escape from the past, or it may be that their present is very unpleasant. Perhaps they wanted to use their talents in a way that would bring about securities for relying upon. Of course, in the process, they were forgetting to trust in God. I would also suggest that there is another reason, a deeper one, although distorted because of our sins. It looks as if we as creatures were designed for looking ahead, and in a sense the gospel brings to believers the correct way of anticipating the future. We could say that those described here by James are people with a distorted or damaged vision of what can be. Instead of relying upon God, of adopting the biblical description of future glory, they imagine one that even if it does occur it will not satisfy.

In contrast to them, we should be focussing on future experiences that God has promised to give to all who will depend upon him through the gospel. Somebody has said that if we live for this world we will eventually lose everything whereas if we live for God we will gain everything.

The sovereignty of God

James reminds us that instead of bluntly stating our own preferences about the future we should remember that the Lord is sovereign over every area of life. As we know, the Bible mentions two different wills of God – there is his revealed will and there is his secret will.

His revealed will is stated in the Bible and it covers a wide variety of things. For example, he gives us details of his longterm plan for the cosmos, of his intention to bring into existence a new heavens and new earth. Or we can describe the gospel offer as part of his revealed will. And then there are the various commandments he has given for us to obey.

We could describe those examples in different ways. His revelation of his longterm plan is designed for us to praise him and to have confidence about the future, to rejoice in the centrality of Jesus. Nothing will prevent his people getting there. As far as the gospel is concerned, the general call reveals God’s goodness to the human race as he offers salvation to them, and since it is a genuine offer it should encourage us to share it with people. And his commandments are not options that we can choose to disobey without consequences. He has told us what will happen if we disobey his commands – we will lose his blessing until we repent. The point about the revealed will of God is that nothing is hidden.

His secret will concerns his eternal purpose, what he has not told us and which he will not tell us. No creature knows the contents of God’s secret will, not even the angels. If they did know, it would not be a secret. This secret will of God includes everything that occurs from the micro to the macro. Every blink of an eye that occurred today was according to God’s secret will. If I decide not to blink for the next three minutes, it is my free choice, but in the process I will have done God’s secret will. This should be very comforting if God is for me because it means that I cannot for a moment be outside the secret will of God.

People may think this is very unfair, but we operate on this method all the time. Recently I flew on a plane. The airline operated a revealed will with me and gave me instructions on what to do regarding bookings, food, what I could carry and so on. It also had a secret will, the details of which it did not share with me. Was the airline being unfair because it did not tell me the state of the plane, the age of the pilot, the provider of the food, the precise state of the weather every two miles and so on? Did the fact that it did not tell me make me suspicious that it was working against me? Of course not. I assumed that they wanted good for their passengers, whether it was their revealed will or their secret will.

When we think of God’s revealed will and his secret will, we are to remember that in both he works for his own glory and in both he reveals his goodness, his justice, his power and his wisdom. Normally, if I obey his revealed will, I will discover the benefits he has promised and which he brings about through his secret will. If I disobey his revealed will, I will discover the punishments that he will bring about through his secret will.

The problem that we often have is that we think will be good and for his glory might differ from what he has decreed will be good and for his glory. Take the recipients of this letter.

·       They had believed in Jesus, which was the outcome of his revealed will (believe the gospel) and his secret will (he had planned it before the foundation of the world). There we can easily see how God’s goodness is revealed and how his glory is connected to their good.

·       Their devotion to Jesus had led to persecution and their scattering. The possibility of persecution is stated in his revealed will, but the precise nature of it (who did it, when they did it, how they did it) and the consequences of it (where they ended up) is part of his secret will. The persecutors are responsible for their actions, because no one forced them to do it even although their actions were part of God’s secret will. Yet we can see that God’s goodness was revealed in him saying this could happen and how he would help them when it happened. And that would be for his glory.

·       Their proper response to this new situation is described in his revealed will (the Old Testament) and their actual response was part of his secret will. It was still their response for which they were responsible for choosing. We can see from the letter that they made wrong choices, but their wrong choices did not mean that God had to adjust his secret will. Yet God’s goodness was revealed in giving them the information as to how they should react in their new circumstances.

·       When James discovered what had happened to them, he decided as their pastor to send them a letter. We are not told the process by which he came too this decision. Nowhere is there a statement in God’s revealed will that he should do so. So his decision to send it was part of God’s secret will. Yet the decision to send it would be in line with the general principles revealed in God’s Word as to how a pastor should react. And God’s secret arrangement for this letter was intended for the good of the recipients even although they had sinned against his revealed will.

·       The letter was sent according to God’s secret will and once written it became part of his revealed will for them. So they had believed according to his revealed will, had suffered for the faith according to his revealed will, had responded wrongly to his revealed will initially, and now had received a letter from him that revealed to them what they should do. That was one level, and at another level it was all according to his secret will.

Finding God’s will

That scenario can be repeated in thousands of different ways. What response should it bring about in us? James mentions a wrong response and a right response. The wrong response is to boast about our intentions and insist that somehow we will pursue our own plans. What may happen when we say that we intend to do something without regard to what God may wish?

Two possibilities. He may prevent it or he may allow it to happen. The fact that he allowed it to happen is not evidence of his approval. All it shows is that in his secret will he allowed it even although our intention was against his revealed will and a sin. The detail that is important as far as we are concerned is our attitude towards him. So what should be our attitude?

We should submit to his revealed will, which is what James means by his expression ‘the right thing to do’. Often people speak about seeking the Lord’s will for their life and they want specific guidance regarding something such as a marriage partner or a career to follow or if they should serve the Lord in China. Of course, it is essential to ask the Lord to open and close doors, and it is important to ask the Lord to give a strong desire to do something. Yet we always have to say, ‘If the Lord wills.’

David Livingstone thought initially that he was called to serve the Lord in China and discovered eventually that his place of service was Africa. He discovered it was Africa through a series of providences and not by an assumption that he had access to God’s secret will. One of the providences was that a war broke out between Britain and China and the London Missionary Society decided to send him to the West Indies instead. While he agreed that he could not go to China at that time, he did not think that the West Indies was suitable for him because the gospel was already there. So the Society and he decided he should go to Africa or to the South Seas islands. One day, he met Robert Moffatt and that meeting convinced David it was Africa. He discovered God’s will for his life through a series of providences in which God opened and closed doors, and he did not get access to God’s secret will to help him make up his mind.

How do we discover God’s personal will for us? I would say it involves three things: the deep desires he gives, the strategic doors he opens and closes (which nobody else may see at the time), and the delights we have in obeying his commandments in connection with it even when difficulties may occur. Hudson Taylor sensed that God was calling him to China.  A friend suggested to him that he would need to have medical training before he would be suitable. The course was not easy, but he did so gladly because he knew that training would make him a better servant of God.

Of course, God’s calling is not limited to what we often regard as spiritual things. God calls some to be teachers and then calls them in providence to serve him somewhere else; others he calls to be teachers and he does not ask them to change paths. What is necessary is that we have an attitude of submission to his sovereignty when we speak about the future.

In addition to submitting to his sovereignty, the expression ‘if the Lord wills’ is a statement of confidence in his shepherding care, that he will lead us along the path that he wants us to take. When he prevents something, it is not a sign that he is against us. Rather it is evidence that he is leading us to where he wants to take us.