Future Plans

You Got Future Plans?

Scripture: James 4:13-17

It is good to have goals, but goals will disappoint us if we leave God out of them. There is no point in making plans as though God did not exist, because the future is in His hands. That man walks most safely who has the least confidence in himself.

Proverbs 27: 1 “Do not boast about tomorrow, For you do not know what a day may bring forth.”

Luke 12: 16 – 21 “16 Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. 17 “And he thought within himself, saying, ’What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ 18 “So he said, ’I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. 19 ’And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” 20 “But God said to him, ’Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ 21 “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”

Psalm 103: 15 “As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.”

James states that uncertainty of life is not a cause either for fear or for inaction because of the insecurity of the future. It is a reason for accepting and realizing our complete dependence on God. It has always been the mark of a serious-minded man that he made his plans in dependence on God. Paul writes to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 4: 19 “But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord wills …” and in 1 Corinthians 16: 7 he mentions, “For I do not wish to see you now on the way; but I hope to stay a while with you, if the Lord permits.”

Constantly among the Arabs there is heard the expressions: “Inshallah – If Allah wills.” The curious thing is that there seems to have been no such corresponding phrase which the Jews themselves used. For that matter neither do we all have such a word or phrase in our daily usage. In this the Jews and we have yet to learn a lot. Let us take this as an example to follow and lead others to pursue it too.

The real Christian way is not to be terrorized into fear, and not to be paralyzed into inaction, by the uncertainty of the future, but to commit the future and all our plans into the hands of God, and always to remember that our plans may not be within the purpose of God.

Illustration: Rev. R. S. Jones was a missionary to Brazil. He had many years of Christian service. In 1936, he was retiring due to ill health. At a Convention that year, this missionary was talking to the songwriter BB McKinney. Jones told McKinney that his doctor would not let him return to Brazil to continue his missionary work. McKinney asked about his future plans. Jones replied: “I don’t’ know, but wherever He leads I’ll go.” These words stuck in McKinney’s mind. Before that evening was over, McKinney had written the words of an invitation hymn: “Wherever He leads I’ll go, Wherever He leads, I’ll go. I’ll follow my Christ who loves me so, Wherever He Leads I’ll go.”

(a) Boasting in arrogance ~ The man who does not remember that, is guilty of arrogant boasting. The Greek word used here is ALAZONEIA, which was originally the characteristic of the wandering quack. He offered cures which were not cures, and boasted of things that he was not able to do. ALAZONEIA is the characteristic of the man who lays claim to that which he does not possess, and who boasts of that which he cannot do.

When we follow God’s urging with our action now, today will be golden. — David C. McCasland

Your future is 100% secure when you have given your life & will in God’s hand.