If the Lord Wills is how a disciple tells the truth about tomorrow.
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.
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.
The sentence is not luck.
It is lordship.
James is not against calendars or honest work. He is against a year spoken as if the speaker owned breath. Traders map a town, a year, a margin. God is not in the sentence. That boast is evil, he says, because it treats life as inventory. You are a mist. The rich fool had already narrated many years to his soul. This night your soul is required.
Paul lived the better grammar: I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills. I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits.
Jesus taught us to pray Your will be done. The heart plans its way; the Lord establishes the steps. Many plans sit in a man; the purpose of the Lord stands. If the Lord wills does not cancel diligence. It puts the mist back inside the counsel that runs to all generations. Say it when you book the trip. Mean it when the trip is canceled. Live, and do this or that—under His yes.
- The sin is not planning. It is planning as owner of the vapor.
- You do not know what tomorrow will bring is fact, not gloom.
- Mist is dignity enough. It is not a throne.
- If the Lord wills includes we will live—breath itself is borrowed.
- Paul used the phrase as travel theology, not as decoration.
- Your will be done is the same bow in prayer form.
- Boasting in tomorrow is evil because it edits God out of the year.
- The Boast – Town, year, trade, profit—no Lord in the map.
- The Mist – Little time; then gone.
- The Ought – Say if the Lord wills.
- We Will Live – Life first; then this or that.
- Paul’s Use – Soon, if the Lord wills; if the Lord permits.
- The Prayer – Your will be done.
- Against the Fool – Many years spoken; one night required.
- James 4:13-16 – “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.”
- James 4:17 – So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
- Proverbs 27:1 – Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.
- Proverbs 16:9 – The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
- Proverbs 19:21 – Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.
- Luke 12:18-20 – Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years… Fool! This night your soul is required of you.
- Matthew 6:10 – Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
- Matthew 6:34 – Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself.
- Acts 18:21 – I will return to you if God wills.
- 1 Corinthians 4:19 – I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills.
- 1 Corinthians 16:7 – I hope to spend some time with you, if the Lord permits.
- Romans 1:10 – Asking that somehow by God’s will I may now at last succeed in coming to you.
- Hebrews 6:3 – And this we will do if God permits.
- Psalm 39:5 – Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths, and my lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath.
- Psalm 33:11 – The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of His heart to all generations.
- Job 1:21 – The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.
You do not know what tomorrow will bring. 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.
All such boasting is evil.
The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
Your will be done. I will come soon, if the Lord wills.
Fool! This night your soul is required.
Plan the work. Hold the year loosely. Put His name in the sentence before the profit. Live, if He wills. Do this or that, if He wills. The mist is safest in His hands.
Entry compiled for the JESUSaves.com Bible Glossary. Optimized for wiki.js Visual Editor.