Henry Krabbendam - James - World Evangelical Alliance

cidentally, folks who follow Paul’s pattern will show that by the bumps and bruises on
their foreheads. They are bound often to run into God’s providential roadblocks, if
they doggedly and persistently exercise their creative imagination. In fact, such bumps
and bruises are their badge of honor. When God stops them, they respond with a smile
of submission, and either “try” again, until the door is fully closed, or tirelessly move
on to a next “project.” If Paul is any indication, God is pleased with any believer, who
always gives it 100%! It is tantamount to keeping the faith, to running the race, to
fighting the good fight come what may, and to endure into the end. In fact, it is to pour
oneself out as a drink-offering until the very last drop. This, incidentally, secured for
Paul a crown of righteousness as God’s reward. All those who love their Lord and
Savior, and run “far, fast and furious” in Paul’s footsteps, can expect the same (2 Tim.
4:6-8).
It hardly needs to be emphasized how liberating and life-producing this approach
is! At any rate, all this implies that the businessman in James 4:13ff can be applauded
in and for his entrepreneurialism (and would have been applauded had all else been
equal)! In fact, businessmen, and everyone else for that matter, should be encouraged
to take their “cultural mandate” as seriously as possible. They should go as far and as
fast, and as furious as they can! In a word, they should have a big vision, plan a grand
strategy, and be in hot pursuit of it! This is the picture we receive of the businessman.
That he has a problem is quite clear. But he is not chided by James, because he is not
on the lookout for a “non-existing, ideal will of God for his life.” As we will see later,
the locus as well as the nature of his problem is elsewhere.
(4) Divine Providence
Fourth, believers must rely on the providential will of God (Rom. 1:120; 15:32). One
way of doing so is by keeping the known providence of God in mind. When they do,
they will refuse to make sudden, capricious, moves. In God’s providence the will of
his control, his “secret will,” is disclosed. This means two things. First, it is advisable
to postpone one’s decisions as long as is comfortably possible. The longer one waits,
the more of God’s providential data are at one’s disposal, and the wiser one’s decisions
are bound to be. For those data often make it (crystal?) clear which direction one
should take in the decision making process. To wait, in short, tends to uncomplicate
things. In fact, many decisions may never need to be made, since it will frequently
prove to be an open and shut case as to which course of action to take. Second, once a
decision is made, it becomes a part of God’s providence, part of “all things” that God
causes to come in our lives for our progressive conformity to the image of Christ
(Rom. 8:28-29). Because it is by definition a stepping stone toward our sanctification,
we will never have to look over our shoulders in an attitude of second-guessing. Of
course, at times it may precipitate repentance in case decisions are sinful. But even at
that every decision of God’s people is ultimately fuel for joy, thanksgiving, and worship.
We may well ask what alternative there is for folks who know that their past, in
whole and in part, consists unreservedly of God’s pavement en route to their perfection!
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