To Encourage You

James 4:15 “Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’” 

There’s a verse in the Old Testament that was the basis for a song we used to sing in a church I attended many years ago. Its refrain went like this: “I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to do either more or less.”  It was from Numbers 22:18 which says “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the Lord my God to do less or more.” Interestingly, these words were said by Balaam, who was a false prophet.  Although he called the Lord “my God” he was like those who in the end will say “Lord, Lord,” but will not enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 7:21).

Numbers 22 is from the account of Israel’s wanderings in the wilderness.  As they approached the country of Moab, we are told that “Moab was in great dread of the people, because they were many.”  So, their king, Balak, sent word to Balaam, and told him that he would pay him richly if he would just put a curse on Israel. But when Balaam attempted to do this, he was repeatedly rebuffed by God.  And so Balaam told Balak the words of verse 18 above. 

So, if a false prophet was able to understand this truth about God, how much more should anyone who claims to love and follow Him? Yet, James warns us in the verse above that many live as if this wasn’t the case. They go through life working to check off the things on their daily “to do list,” or their lifelong “bucket list,” while not giving the God Who both created and sustains them a second thought.  But that way of thinking and going through life should not mark the life of a Christian.  Rather, in all that we do, our attitude should always be, “if the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” That’s because it’s the truth, whether or not we believe or acknowledge it.  It is if and only if the Lord wills it that we will live another moment on this earth.  The power of life is in His and only in His hands. As Paul pointed out to the idolatrous Greeks in Athens, it was only in the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ that “we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).  Though we may make our plans each day, we are told “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps” (Proverbs 16:9).  And even when we sin, even when we act as if we are our own god and can, therefore, do as we please, it is only because of His longsuffering patience and love that we are not consumed (Lamentations 3:22). 

So, how should we then live?  I like to think of it as choosing between Plan A and Plan B.  Plan A is a life lived in alignment with God’s will. It’s a life where “In all (our) ways (we) acknowledge him, and he will make straight (our) paths” (Proverbs 3:6).  It’s a life lived in submission and obedience to God’s will for us.  It’s a life blessed by such harmony.  On the other hand, Plan B is to go our own way and do our own thing. It’s a life lived whereby we don’t give God a second thought.  But it’s a life lived in futility that’s headed for a dead end.  Fearfully, it’s a life that may end up like some who “did not see fit to acknowledge God” and so “God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done” (Romans 1:28), to their own everlasting destruction. For you see, as Balaam reluctantly proclaimed, no one can go beyond the Word of the Lord, to do either more or less, for “The Lord brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. (But) The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations” (Psalm 33:10-11). 

So, what will you have for your life’s plan?  Will it be Plan A or Plan B?