A Daily Walk

Guest (Male): Looking for God's will in your life? John Randall shares these thoughts on the matter.

John Randall: Discover the will of God for your life as you walk with God in your life. The will of God so often is a progressive revelation.

Lord, let Your will be done in my life today. That's my heart, that's my prayer. Throughout that day as I'm walking with the Lord, trusting in the Lord, I believe that there is a progressive revelation of God's will for that day in my life.

Guest (Male): One of the most frequently asked questions among Christians is, "What is God's will for my life?" No doubt that's your desire as you're tuning in today to A Daily Walk. Pastor John Randall opens James Chapter 4 today, which shows us how to walk in the will of God. I think you'll find it helpful in your daily walk.

John Randall: James Chapter 4, beginning in verse 13, with a message entitled, "Walking in the Will of God." James Chapter 4, verse 13. Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit," whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall do this or that." But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. Father, speak to us now from Your word concerning Your will. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

If you are a believer in Jesus Christ here this evening, it is safe to assume that you are concerned about the will of God for your life. More than likely you share the sentiments of the Psalmist when he said in Psalm 40, verse 8, "I delight to do Your will, oh God, and Your law is within my heart." You're probably seeking to follow the example of Jesus when He said, "I have not come to do my own will, but the will of Him who sent me."

For the child of God, the will of God is the safest place to be. It's the best place to be. However, it doesn't mean that God's will for your life will always be easy. Anybody that tells you that doesn't know what they're talking about. Your life isn't always easy. We live in a fallen world.

There are countless examples in the scriptures of men and women who trusted God, who walked with God, and were in the center of God's will that encountered great difficulties on their pilgrimage on this planet. Many difficulties, hardships, and trials. I think of Daniel. He was in the center of God's will in Babylon and in the lion's den. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were in the center of God's will when they were thrown into the fiery furnace.

The disciples were in the will of God in the midst of a storm that potentially could have drowned them. The apostles were in the center of God's will as they suffered persecution. Paul the Apostle was in the midst of God's will when he was shipwrecked there on the island of Malta. Jesus was in the center of the Father's will as He was crucified on a cross for the sins of the world. He had said, "Father, not my will, but Yours be done."

It's not always easy, nor does being in the center of God's will mean that you will always understand what God is doing in your life. There are many occasions when we question the methods of God and the ways of God. Job was in the center of God's will, and Job said in Job 23, "I look, I go forward, but He's not there. Backward, I can't perceive Him. When He works on the left hand, I can't behold Him. When He turns to the right hand, I cannot see Him."

Then Job said, "But He knows the way that I take, and when He has tested me, I shall come forth as gold." I don't always know. I think it's You. I'm not really sure. I'm trusting You. I'm walking this out, but it doesn't always make sense to me. There's a reason for that because the Bible tells us in Romans Chapter 11, verse 33, "Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!"

There are certain ways and methods of God that the finite mind cannot comprehend because God is infinite. It's not mine to always understand what God is doing, or it doesn't always make sense to me, but I need to trust Him because I know that He's good. I know that He's working something out for my good. You have to begin with that premise when it comes to the will of God, or you will be easily disillusioned when you hit a bump in the road, or a tragedy, sorrow, or pain.

It was Warren Wiersbe who said, "The will of God comes from the heart of God, and His will for us is the expression of His love for us." If we don't start there, if we don't understand that from the beginning, then we will be extremely fearful of the will of God. We'll see it as something to be avoided. C.S. Lewis, if you know anything about his life and what he went through, the difficulties and the pain that he suffered and the loss of his wife, said, "We're not necessarily doubting that God will do the best for us. We're wondering how painful the best will turn out to be."

If you know that God loves you, and He does, then you can rest in the fact that the will of God will never lead you where the grace of God cannot sustain you. You lay hold of the promise found in God's word that declares in 1 John Chapter 2, "The world is passing away and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever."

Discover the will of God for your life as you walk with God in your life. The will of God so often is a progressive revelation. "Lord, let Your will be done in my life today." That's my heart. That's my prayer. Throughout that day as I'm walking with the Lord, trusting in the Lord, I believe that there is a progressive revelation of God's will for that day in my life.

In our text this evening, James isn't so much addressing those who were interested in doing the will of God. Rather, he's reproving those who were seeking to live outside of the will of God. There were those making their plans, strategizing about their agenda, with no thought of God at all. They were exhibiting what you would call practical atheism. This mindset is prevalent in our culture.

The Psalmist said in Psalm 10, verse 4, "The wicked in his proud countenance doesn't seek God. God is in none of his thoughts." You can see the result of that. In Romans Chapter 3, in verse 18, the Apostle Paul said, "There's no fear of God before their eyes," and you can see the result of that. It's a tragedy, especially when you consider the fact that our forefathers came to this country in order to have the freedom to worship God.

They even crafted a document called the Constitution, if you haven't heard about it. Some people don't want you to know about it. It was in order that we would be free to have life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They never would have thought that those precepts would have been degraded and used as a license for every immoral practice that we see currently within our world. Somehow, people would use this document to try to remove God from every sector of public life.

The reason for many is there's just no fear of God, no concern about God. Some are working hard to force the reality of God out of every single part of life, making their plans or their legislation without ever realizing that the One they're trying to remove holds their breath in His hand. This is whom James is addressing at this point within the letter. He says, "Come now, you who say, 'Today, tomorrow, we're going to go to such and such a city. We're going to spend a year there. We're going to buy and sell. We're going to make a profit.'"

Apparently, there were those who were saying, and James was made aware of it, "This is what we're going to do." There were merchants, tradesmen in the congregations making their plans and plotting their courses, studying the markets, doing the research, considering the cash flow, preparing to invest with confidence that their endeavors would be profitable. James is not saying that it's wrong to have careful planning. There's nothing wrong with that. He's not reproving that.

He's not suggesting that it's wrong to plan for the future. I'm trusting God while I'm planning for the future. I've got great future plans. I'm going to be in heaven. You need to be prepared. It's okay. I believe it's a biblical principle to be a good steward of the time that you've been given. The Bible says, "Redeem it, buy it back." Carefully plan. Wisely plan.

Jesus said in Luke Chapter 14, "Which of you intending to build a tower doesn't first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it?" That's important to plan. It's okay to do that. You remember King Solomon looked at the ant as an example and said concerning planning and wisdom in Proverbs Chapter 6, "Go to the ant, you sluggard. Consider her ways and be wise, which having no captain, overseer, or ruler provides for her supplies in the summer and gathers her food in the harvest." Even an ant with its tiny bug brain knows it's important to plan.

That's not what James is coming against here. Some make the mistake of not planning anything, only procrastinating about everything, and nothing ever gets done or accomplished. They pave a nonexistent road with intentions. It never happens. Don't look at your neighbor. These things happen from time to time. Some procrastinate about their salvation. They put it off. They think they've got all the time in the world, but they don't.

The person who is making their plans apart from God, there is an air that we see here of prideful presumption. Presumption. Notice the phrase, "We will." It's a self-confident pride that surfaced in their planning without regard to God in their planning. They were saying and presuming as if they were in control of their destiny. They were assuming, "We've got options today, tomorrow, a year from now. We've got all the time in the world."

To the person who pridefully presumes as they make their plans, they fail to consider some very important points. For one thing, they forget to factor God into the details. They leave Deity out of the details. This is really the core of the problem. They just don't consider God. He's not a part of their thinking. Look at tomorrow, look at today, look at next year, omitting the thought of God.

They kind of live like that poem back in the day by William Henley, Invictus. He has that line in there that says, "I'm the master of my fate, I'm the captain of my soul." Friend, if you're the captain of your soul, your ship is sinking fast to a depth of eternal separation from God. Only Jesus can safely steer your life to an eternal haven of rest in the harbor of heaven. The person who presumes his life, planning apart from God's will, walks in accordance to his own will. Not only keeps Deity out of the details, but they also fail to consider the complexity of life.

The complexity of life. Look at what it says. "We will go to such and such a city, and we're going to buy and sell and make a profit." With all the details, with all the complexity and all the buying and selling and making a profit in this city, all of this overlooked, not truly considered in the thinking process. It's all apart from God. Life can be complex. At times, confusing. Many today are so completely overwhelmed by the complexities of life, especially in the current situation that we are in, that they turn to various means to cope.

Some they turn to medication, some to alcohol or drugs, or other things. In light of the complexities in this world, people are asking these kinds of questions like, "Why am I here?" That's a good question to ask. "What is my purpose? What's the reason for my existence?" Maybe tonight you're asking that question. "Why am I here? What is the reason for my existence? Am I just here to live and die, to punch in and punch out? Is there more to life than that?"

There's more to life than that, friend. God has so much more for you. Life begins to make sense when you come to the One and are introduced to the One who is the life. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me." When you know the One who came to give life and that more abundantly, that's when life begins to make sense. It's still complex, but you have God who's guiding and directing your life.

The Bible says God's not the author of confusion. In knowing Jesus and surrendering your life to Jesus, you discover what your purpose is, that there's more than just existing. But the man or woman who walks in presumption in their planning apart from God's will, they don't consider Deity in the details. They leave God out. They don't consider the complexity of life, but also, this is something that they fail to recognize. The person that leaves God out and does their own will instead of God's will, here's what they fail to realize: the uncertainty of life.

Uncertainty. It says here, "whereas you don't know what's going to happen tomorrow." Anybody know what's going to happen tomorrow? Really? Are you? How many of us in March thought, "I know what's going to happen tomorrow. I'm going to show up here at church. It's going to be great. It's going to be Happy New Year! Yeah, it's going to be great. 2020!" Really? What do we know? Here's what we know: we don't know. That's what we know.

We don't know as much as we think we know, and we're not in control of what we thought we were. What I'm saying to you is there's a lot of uncertainty. I think more than any other time that I can remember, the uncertainty of life. Nothing is certain except certain things that the Bible refers to. You don't know what's going to happen tomorrow, next year, five-year plan. We don't even know. We don't know what the rest of this day holds. Life is uncertain. It's fragile.

The writer of Proverbs said it this way in Proverbs 27, verse 1, "Don't boast about tomorrow because you don't know what the day may bring forth." Jesus in His Sermon on the Mount was talking about those who were worried and troubled about tomorrow, and He said, "Don't worry about tomorrow because tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for today is its own trouble." Don't get caught up in tomorrow when this day is still going. We don't know what's going to happen.

Would you turn for a moment in your Bible? I want you to see somebody who lived this way. Luke Chapter 12. This is in the New Testament. Go back to the left: Matthew, Mark, Luke Chapter 12. I want you to see a man that Jesus referred to. The Bible speaks of him as a rich fool. As Jesus is talking about this individual, this man was living for himself, doing his own thing, and during this time, he had bought and sold and was making his plans.

You'll notice in verse 13 of chapter 12, then one from the crowd said, "Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me." And He said to him, "Man, who made me a judge or an arbitrator over you?" And He said to them, "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of things he possesses." Verse 16: then He spoke a parable and He said to them, "The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, 'What shall I do since I have no room to store my crops?' And so he said, 'I will do this. I will pull down my barns and I'll build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. 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."'"

What a good plan that is! I'm going to tear down my little barn, I'm going to build bigger barns, and then I'm going to talk to my soul and say, "Just relax, soul. Just enjoy your life. Eat, drink, be merry. Woo-hoo!" But notice what the Lord said to him. "But God said," God always has the last word, by the way. God said to him, "Fool! This night your soul will be required of you. Then whose will those things be which you have provided?" So is he who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.

Here's a guy thinking, "My life is set. I got it dialed in. I know where I'm going to be and what I'm going to do. I got my oh, I'm building stuff. This is going to be great. And I'm going to do this and I'm going to do that." Lord said, "You know what? You're not prepared for you're presuming, you're planning outside of God, and tonight your life's over. Now what?" It's just the uncertainty of life. Things can change in a second. You could be going somewhere and then boom! On a dime, something changes. Something happens. We're not even aware of it.

Life is uncertain. We don't know what the future holds. Things can change so quickly. Things we never thought or even imagined, good or bad, for that matter. For some, that's a little frightening, unless you know the Lord. I don't know what the future holds, but I praise God that Jesus holds my future. God doesn't want me or you to walk in fear. He wants us to walk in faith. But here we find those in James who were planning apart from God, leaving Deity out of the details, forgetting about the complexities of life and the uncertainty of life.

It's very important to consider that. If you're here tonight and you're putting off your salvation, don't, because you don't know how long you have. The uncertainty of life. It's a vapor. That's the next thing that James points out here in verse 14, the latter portion. The person who plans to do their own thing outside of God and Him in the picture, they fail to realize the brevity of life. There's the uncertainty; you don't know what today or tomorrow holds. But there's also the brevity of life. By that, it says here, "What is your life?" It's a good question.

He says it's a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. James asks the rhetorical question, "What is your life?" and he answers the question that he asks, highlighting the brevity and the shortness of life. He said, "Life's like a vapor. It's like a puff of smoke. Here and gone. Here and gone." I remember many years ago I was walking in a cemetery. I don't do that often, but I happened to be in another country. It happened to be there. It was on the side of the road. It was in the United Kingdom, it was in England.

I remember sometimes you read the epitaphs and you're like, "Wow, that was a long time ago," or, "Oh, man, that was you just kind of read what they say about them and so forth." It's very interesting to read. It dawned on me that particular day while I was walking through there: the line between the start date and the end date. The line in between. I was looking at that, and the Lord ministered to my heart, or at least made me aware of it: "John, that's what your life is like." It's really in reality the dash between the two marks of when you start and when you end, and what you do with that makes all the difference.

One life to live, soon be past, and only what you do for Jesus will last. The brevity of life. The older you get, the more you realize it. There was a time when I thought, "I'll live forever." No, you're not. You're really not. When you're younger before 30, man, I thought 30 was so far out there. I'm not going to be 30 till forever. That's so old. Then you hear your kids say, "You're so old." That's not that old. But when you got to 30, you're like, "Oh my goodness, I just hit 30." You're just like, "Oh." You make the best of it, have a good birthday.

Then you're 40. "Whoa, man, I still got it! 40." Maybe. Not really. You don't have it as much as you had. You feel things deeper now. Now, almost 50. Sorry, almost 50. Now I'm like, "Wow, this is real. This is no joke." I'm talking to friends who are a little bit down the road from me, and I'm like, "So this is what we can expect? So what happens next? When do you have to have that appointment? I am not doing that. You have to do that? They make you? Do they put you out? Because I don't want to be awake for that. No." The brevity of life. The Bible consistently points to this fact. Life is short.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to A Daily Walk with our pastor and teacher, John Randall. We're going through the New Testament right now. We house our recent programs at adailywalk.org, and you'll find them on our mobile app as well. Do a search for Calvary South OC and download it for free today. Look for us wherever you get your podcasts and at oneplace.com.

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