13 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”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. 17 So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.
- How frequently do you make plans without considering God?
- What might change in your routine plans if you considered God first?
- How would your plans change if you knew you only had a fixed time to live?
- Why is planning without God considered boasting and arrogance?
- How does v. 17 fit into the passage?
- Why is it so easy for you to plan so much of your life without considering God's will first?
This passage puts me to shame. It is my nature/personality to be looking at the future and making plans to achieve something. Usually this is at work where it is a major part of my job. The problem is not the planning. It is the leaving God out of the plans. I read about Nehemiah and his in-front-of-the-king prayer before presenting his request and I am ashamed. I make my plans and maybe remember to ask God to bless this one before I go to the next plan. I have been told by others (and my self) that God gave me the ability and that using the ability is enough. That is not what this passage says. This passage also does not say that merely taking on "Lord willing" covers the plan. I've got some plans to make today. I need to start praying now.
No comments:
Post a Comment