Wednesday, January 4 – James 4:13-14

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. For you are just a vapor that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away.

If you ask children what they would like to do for a day, they often can give an answer straight away. They may list all the things they want to do or places they would like to go. As grand as these plans may be, one thing is often missing from their ideas for adventure—a dose of reality. Children often express desires or plans that fail to recognize possible consequences or limits.

Even as adults, we make many plans and ideas we feel will be best. But like children, we sometimes lose touch with reality. We get so caught up in making plans that we forget tomorrow is not a guarantee. We hold so tightly onto the things we want to do with our time that we have difficulty coping when things don’t go our way. Let’s heed the words of James in today’s passage as we make our plans and new years resolutions. Proverbs 16:9 says, “The mind of a person plans his way, But the Lord directs his steps.” So, seek and trust the One who directs your steps and holds the future—and hold your own plans loosely.

• When have you made grand plans for your life that ended in unexpected or unwanted ways?
• What would it look like to surrender your plans to God, trusting Him with the results?
• Pray and repent for the times you have held onto your plans more tightly than you have trusted Him.