“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” (James 4:13-14).
It takes a bit of arrogance (or ignorance) to actually believe that you have power over tomorrow. So often we see lives cut short by disease or accident, always with expressed shock and dismay. This is understandable, but the truth is such events happen often.
So what is this passage teaching? It certainly is not telling us to forego planning. It does not condemn the purchase of insurance or setting a little money aside for a “rainy day.” It instead is dealing with the prideful who place their trust in themselves rather than acknowledging their dependence upon God.
There are numerous examples of this in scripture. There is the rich fool of Luke 12 who rejoiced in the fact he had “many goods laid up for many years; take you ease; eat drink and be merry” (19). In response, God responded, “Fool! This night your soul will be required of you” (20). The moral, mirroring that of our text, is found in verse 21, “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.”
The nation of Edom was condemned by God for such an attitude of self-sufficiency. Edom mistreated the children of Israel, and did not come to their aid. They laughed at the misfortune of others, while thinking their geography protected them. “The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; you who say in your heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’” (Obadiah 3). In response, God told the nation, “Though you ascend as high as the eagle, and though you set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down” (Obadiah 4).
In Jeremiah 40-43 a remnant remained in Judah after the majority were taken into captivity by the Babylonians. God promised them that He would protect them if they would stay in the land. Instead they chose to seek an alliance with Egypt, leading to their destruction. They placed their confidence in men rather than God.
This is always a problem. It is amazing that so many think themselves powerful enough, wise enough, independent enough to not need God. They are arrogant and foolish. We ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall do this or that” (James 4:15); not, “But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil” (4:16). Such Foolishness!
