Should We Make Plans?

Thanks to the Trinity Church family for the opportunity to attempt the September 2023 Sabbatical leave. During September, I am supposed to be away from pastoral responsibilities. As the September 2023 Sabbatical Leave drew near, I made plans for four weeks. I planned to spend quality time with my wife and family. I developed a mental checklist of honey-dos to complete. I pondered the number of extra hours I could sleep and daily naps I would acquire. I also planned to spend my time playing several rounds of golf on different golf courses. Unfortunately, things did not go the way I planned.

September started with a phone call in the early morning of September 7, 2023, significantly changing my plans. Usually, when someone calls at 3:00 a.m., Tia and I know it is probably not good news. This occasion was no different. Tia’s best friend shared that their best friend and classmate had taken her life. The news was devastating and perplexing. It interrupted and changed the direction of our lives, including travel plans to Colorado to spend time with our daughter and attend the much-anticipated rivalry college football game between Deion Sanders’ Colorado Buffalos and the Colorado State Rams. Unknowingly, we would have to change our travel plans for funeral planning. Tia assisted the family with planning for her best friend, and I had to officiate the funeral and share the eulogy of Lawanda Michelle Davis.

Additionally, after teaching over the summer for Africa Renewal University’s MATS program (Biblical Theology), the program director (Pastor David Musooli) said they would not use any instructors from the US for the fall semester. However, when one of the African professors abruptly departed the program, Pastor Musooli called and asked if I would help develop the curriculum for Biblical Preaching and co-teach the course. The course is going well. Students have provided extensive learning feedback and are developing their understanding of Biblical Preaching.

I can also add that Tia and I did not plan numerous hospital visits for church members having surgeries and her mother having an extended stay in the hospital. Nevertheless, even though we had not planned for a funeral, a teaching assignment, and church members’ and family members’ medical concerns, God is graciously bringing us through each moment. There is an element of irony through all we have endured this month. 

Ironically, before the 2023 Sabbatical Leave, I had been teaching in Midday and Evening Becoming Sessions from James 4:13-17 where James challenged his hearers through the following words:

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is a sin (NASB). 

James did not want his hearers to live through self-sufficient planning. He knew the danger of trying to live through this kind of erroneous planning methodology. Thus, the relevant question is: Why should believers never try to live through self-sufficient planning?

First, self-sufficient planning excludes God (James 4:13). Every day, our planning should include God. Even though this is true, James recognized the reality of planning that does not include God. In the 21st century, people plan regarding their jobs, careers, education, family, travel, homes, cars, and businesses without including God. James is not trying to teach us that we should not plan. In contrast, he is teaching us that we should plan. However, our planning should not start with our plans, but our planning should start with God (Matt. 6:33).    

Second, self-sufficient planning fails to embrace life’s perplexities (James 4:14). James wants us to understand the reality of life’s uncertainties. James provided at least two reasons why life is uncertain. First, life is uncertain because our minds and thought processes are limited. We are not omniscient in our thinking. Thus, we can never know for certain what will happen regarding tomorrow. Second, life is uncertain because of its brevity. James metaphorically described our lives as a “vapor” (v. 14) that appears and quickly disappears. We do not know when death will appear and whisk us away from this life. But one thing we can know for sure is that death will come for us all. 

Third, self-sufficient planning fails to encompass God (James 4:15). James wants us to turn from our human sufficiency to divine sufficiency. Human sufficiency is useless in our planning because no human has absolute control over their lives. God is the only being with absolute control (Job 42:2). Thus, we must show God that we depend on His divine knowledge, sovereignty, and sufficiency by turning to Him as we plan our days, weeks, months, and years. 

Fourth, self-sufficient planning is egotistical (James 4:16). Even though James described self-sufficient planning as “evil” (v. 16), he knew some people approach planning through prideful “arrogance” (v. 16). People who look ahead with prideful arrogance think they are in complete control of every aspect of their lives until God allows something to happen unexpectedly that causes them to realize they do not have as much control as they thought. James was not the first to warn of self-sufficient and egotistical planning. Solomon warned, “Don’t brag about your plans for tomorrow—wait and see what happens” (Prov. 27:1, TLB).

Fifth, self-sufficient planning evades obedience to God’s Word (James 4:17). James has taught all believers to plan by depending on God. Thus, for any believer to plan and exclude God is to commit the sin of omission. Whenever God’s Word commands us to do something, and we do not, we have committed the sin of omission. Instead of disobeying God’s Word through omission, we should do our best to obey God’s Word. James teaches us to obey God’s Word by including God in our planning. 

During September, several people who knew of the unexpected occurrences during my 2023 Sabbatical leave said, “Pastor, your sabbatical got blown up.” Thankfully, I could share my perspective of the unforeseen events through the lens of James 4:13-17. Whenever we view our lives through the spiritual lens of James 4:13-17, we will not think planning is unnecessary. Contrastingly, we will realize the need to plan and depend on God to demonstrate His sovereign control over our lives. Should we make plans? Yes, but we must plan with God!