Do not boast about tomorrow,
for you do not know what a day may bring.
We are big planners. Back in the pre-technological ancestory days, we actually had "day planers." They were made out of paper. They came in a variety of sizes and styles but the main thrust was to plan your day, week, month and year. We were told by "success-gurus" that successful people are planning people; they make a plan and work their plan. Today we have progressed beyond paper and pencil to keyboards and gigabyte memory. We have "apps" that plan our day and work our plan for us. With all this technical and professional assistance we have had very few people tell us our "plans are not beneficial." I don't know how Solomon planned his day and if he had a personal assistant (a real person) to make out his schedule. I do not know what Solomon thought about his "day-planner" but I do know what he thought about planning ... we don't know what tomorrow brings forth. We can plan all we want but we are still slaves to circumstances that are directed by God. It is amazing how much money and time is spent (wasted) on planning only to have a weather storm change them. Imagine all the strategic plans there were put together between the years 2016-2019. Three years of planning only to have the Covid, worldwide pandemic show up March, 2020. Or, when an economic market downfall changes them. Or, a boss who wakes up angry changes them. Or, a contrary personality changes them. Plan all you want. But trust God ultimately for how your plans are worked out. God is in control not your calendar.
We all have a plan or a dream or a set of goals in our hearts. We use strategies and line our lives up for the best possible results. Yet, even the most profound plans, executed to the most exact detail fall harmless and impotent in the mere shadow of God's sovereign will. The fact of the matter, when it comes to our planning, the second line, above, states everything we need to know: We don't know what tomorrow is all about, or what it holds. All of our plans are held hostage by the uncertainty about tomorrow. We might boast about our plans for finance, or employment, or education, or family security. But, God warns us, through Solomon's pen, to not make such brag-a-doish statements. When we make our plans for life we need to acknowledge God's hand in those plans. Note how James takes hold of Solomon's words in his first century epistle:
James 4:13-17 (NASBStr)
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 sin.
James adds that this boasting about our plans, failing to acknowledge God, is actually, sinning. We might try to live our lives separate from God, even in the planning. Yet, God tells us not to do so. We need to realize that the best plans are those that include God, acknowledge God and honor God. We are going to move forward as God wills. Give Him the plans. They turn out much better.
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