Can You Hear Him

In America, most are so busy planning and executing the plan, that they rarely pray about God’s will for their life. We rush here and there, doing our duty thinking everything is perfectly fine. We do the things that we deem to be right and good but fail to seek to find out if our actions are what He has planned for us. Why do we do that? We will look at four arguments that reveal the foolishness of ignoring the will of God.

James 4:13 “Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:”

1. The complexity of life. Every day, it seems as if there is more to do, more people to see, and more places to go. We stack activities on top of activities and make crucial decisions each day. Unless we take the time to seek God’s will in all of this we will become stressed and react to things as if we were a robot. Doing good, but with no heart. When life becomes this complex it makes no sense. It’s no wonder that those without Christ can’t make sense of it all. However, with Christ life makes sense. When we seek to know his will we see everything in a different light. It’s like a jigsaw puzzle until we have all the pieces in place, we can’t see the real picture! We can live in this hectic world without the anxiety and depression that plagues so many.

James 4:14“Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”

2. The uncertainty of life. This verse challenges us to think about all the things we plan and seek that may never come to be. We get so caught up in the planning, never stopping to think that we need to seek God’s will in everything we do. There is no promise of tomorrow to anyone. Proverbs 27:1 tells us “Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” We plan for months and months of activity, and even skip things where God has given us opportunities to serve. Why, because we are saving our time off, or money, to do something we want that may never happen. When was the last time you prayed about a vacation or planned your vacation where it didn’t conflict with services at church? What about revival? Do you put it on your calendar, and build your other activities around it? Life is not uncertain to God, but it is to us. Only when we see his will can we be confident of tomorrow, for we know that he is leading us.
3. The brevity of life or shortness of life is described in the last part of the verse. When we are young it seems that life is lived at a slow steady pace. The older we get the faster it rolls. The previous part of the verse shows life as something frail, but the second part tells us why. It is like a vapor. That word means a mist. It may float in the air for a moment but soon it will dissipate leaving no trace behind. We need to live every day determined to make an impact for Christ. We need to live for eternity, not this temporary existence.

James 4:16 “But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil.”

4. Last, we see the frailty of man in verse 16. Our planning and boasting only serve to cover up our weaknesses. As much as man would like to believe he is in control of the things of the world, he is not. Most can’t even control the affairs of their own children, much less the affairs of the world. Truth be known, we have very little control over anything. We cannot predict the future and do well to deal with what we know is happening. We are powerless to control future events. For us to boast of accomplishments is the act of making ourselves our own god.

How foolish it is for us to ignore the will of God. It is like going through a dense, dark jungle without a map. Why not seek his will and follow where he leads? He will always lead us in ways that are best for us. He loves us more than anyone else ever could.