James 4:13-14
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
We are constantly encouraged to plan for the future. Whether we are looking at our family, our housing, our holidays or our pensions, we are under continual pressure to make good plans. I don’t think James is telling his readers not to do any planning, but he does want to prick the bubble of their arrogance. They thought that their life was their possession and that they could do what they liked with it. Not so, says James. The first consideration should be to discover God’s will.
This means that when we do our planning, we should do it on our knees in prayer. We should reflect that our lives are a gift from God and that our families, education, talents and possessions are all part of His gracious generosity to us. In prayer we need to seek His will for the future, so as we make our plans we need to hold them in humility before Him.
Seeking to know God’s will is our primary task in life. The reason for that is quite simply because God’s will is, by definition, the best possible future for us.
Question
Which of your life plans do you need to commit afresh to God today?
Prayer
Thank You Lord that You love me so much that You always want the best for me. Help me to seek Your will first in all that I do today. Amen

Released on 1 Oct 2026