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? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. 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. If anyone, then, knows the good they ought to do and doesn’t do it, it is sin for them. James 4:13-17

Think for a moment about all the plans you have in place right now. You plan to finish reading this devotional. You plan to take care of chores and tasks this weekend. You plan to do certain things next week. You plan to accomplish some family objectives in the new year. You plan to take a vacation, get involved in a committee at church, retire, enjoy your senior years, and spend eternity with Christ. We live with plans – from the small to the sacred and everywhere in between.

Scripture commends plan-making (Proverbs 16:9; 19:21). Even ants are commended for planning for winter by storing up food in the summer (Proverbs 6:6-8). Yet for human planners, there is one caveat when it comes to making plans: God’s plans always take precedence over ours. Every plan we make should carry the conscious addendum, “As the Lord directs.” As the apostle James taught, planners are to say, “If the Lord wills.”

So, go ahead and make plans for today, this week, and the coming year. Just allow God to direct your steps. And trust that if He changes your plans, He has a purpose. “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:7 CSB

Dr. David Jeremiah, Adapted