Knowing and Doing (James 4:11-5:6)

[Sung Psalm: 37]

When Christians make plans, you often hear them add, "Lord willing" – as a way of acknowledging that God, in his providence, may have other plans.

And the English translations of James 4:15, would generally support that way of saying it. (And, let me hasten to add, that it’s a very good point! It is always prudent to acknowledge that God may have other plans – and so our plans must always be made with humility – recognizing as Proverbs says, "many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand" (Prov 19:21) – or as Thomas a Kempis put it, "man proposes, but God disposes.")

But when it comes to James 4:15, it is a case of right doctrine, wrong text! After all, the conclusion of the paragraph is found in verse 17 – "Ser knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin."

If you take verse 15 as saying, "Lord willing, we will live and do this or that" – then you are admitting that you don’t know the right thing – you are just doing the best you can, given the uncertainty of God’s hidden will.

But when we talk about God’s will, there is another option. There is not only his hidden will – by which he governs all things – there is also his declared will – namely, the things that God has commanded us to do!

What happens if you take James 4 in this way? Well, thenW James is not telling us to simply add “Lord willing” to our plans! Rather, James is telling us to reconsider our plans! The point is not that we will do what we want – Lord willing. The point is rather that we should do the Lord’s will!

And if you know what that is – and you don’t do it – that’s sin.