In the JB Phillips paraphrase of James 4:13-17, there is a heading right above the text that reads: “It is still true that man proposes, but God disposes.” The idea is that man may plan the events of his life, but the God who is sovereign will do as He believes best. God’s sovereignty precludes man’s presumption. So “Man proposes, but God disposes.”
This phrase is centuries old, apparently occurring first in Thomas à Kempis’ 15th-century classic, The Imitation of Christ. And you will find it in several other places. In fact, if you do a Google Image search on the phrase “Man proposes, but God disposes,” you will be directed to a 19th-century oil-on-canvas painting by the English Painter Edwin Landseer.
In the painting by the same title, Landseer depicts the aftermath of a ship lost in the arctic sea and the ensuing disappearance of 129 men, explorers who had sailed in 1864 in search of the Northwest Passage. The ship and the men disappeared into the arctic ice. Man proposes, God disposes.
God’s sovereignty precludes our presumption. This really is at the heart of what James is teaching in these verses. Most pressing on his mind is the presumptuous planning of Christian merchants, but his warning applies universally to all people at all times and in all situations: God’s sovereignty precludes man’s presumption. Solomon put it this way in Proverbs 16:9, “In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps.”
Let us turn now to James’ text and examine it more closely, noting no fewer than three facts about life.
Life Consists of Uncertainty
This point is unmistakably present in the words of James. He cautions: “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…”
James has in mind primarily Christian merchants or businessmen, men who travel and trade goods and services for profit. We may picture a man unfurling a huge map, flattening it out on a table, and pointing to various places of interest where he hopes to go to “buy and sell and make a profit.”
On the surface, there is nothing wrong with this kind of thinking and planning. We all plan events and consider the days ahead regarding what we hope to do or accomplish. There’s nothing wrong with having a day timer or using calendars on your computers or smartphones. In fact, because God is an orderly God, there is something of our mirroring our Creator when we plan our days and structure our lives. Created in God’s image, our orderliness reflects the glory and grandeur of an orderly God.
Planning the future is not the problem. But what, then, is the problem? Fundamentally, it is a problem of presumption. It is the brazen and arrogant way we may plan our days and events as though we were in charge of everything and that everything we plan will come to pass.
A key to understanding what is wrong in verse 13 is to consider not so much what is said but what is not said. Indeed, the key to understanding what is wrong with the presumptive boast of the one speaking in verse 13 is to consider what he leaves out—or, better still, who he leaves out.
When you read verse 13, do you see any reference at all to the One True and Living God? No. There is no mention of Him. And lest we become too critical, how much of our own lives do we live or plan without giving so much as a thought to God’s plans?
The futility of presumptive planning is especially proven by the next verse: “whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow…”
James sounds a bit like Solomon: “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth (Proverbs 27:1).”
Who knows what tomorrow holds? Life is full of uncertainties. This truth can actually liberate us from so much fretting about and losing our temper when things don’t go “our” way. Belief in the sovereignty of God—that God is absolutely in control and is overseeing all events for His glory and our good—means we can rest knowing that He is doing what is best. The Christian knows that God always does what is right, every single time without exception.
Frankly, the fact that we do not know what tomorrow holds is nothing short of a profound mercy of God. I’m not sure I want to know the future!
Thankfully, God knows what we can and can’t handle. He knows for our own good whether to give or to withhold a happy providence. He also knows exactly when to unveil a trying or difficult circumstance meant to grow us and conform us to greater Christlikeness (Romans 8:29).
God knows best and always acts rightly.
**Excerpt from You’re Either Walking The Walk Or Just Running Your Mouth (Preaching Truth: 2020), pages 150-153, available in all formats here.
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