Henry Krabbendam - James - World Evangelical Alliance

The bottom line, then, is that anything other than “Yes, Unless God” as the motto
over the portals of our life, whether it is “yes, I go, do, permit, etc, unless God stops
me, you, us, etc.,” qualifies us “controlfreaks,” both of ourselves and others, who simply
do not want to give up “the final say” in whatever, often self-deceiving, pious terminology
we couch our response to a situation or an individual. Only, the “Yes, Unless
God” sets us free from ourselves, as it indicates that we are willing to surrender
everything and everyone fully to God as well as the control of his Word and providence
in all situations and relationships.
It is the prayer of this commentator that the Church will abandon the concept of
the man-centered so-called “perfect will of ‘god’ for my life,” and return in obedience
to the four biblical biblical guidelines for God-centered and God-honoring decision
making! There is no telling what God will do in raising the fortunes of his Kingdom,
when its subjects mean business and give it their all. If Hebrews 11 is any indication, it
may well end up with 90% victory (Heb. 11:1-35a) and 10% martyrdom (Heb. 11:35b-
38). Of course, Hebrews 11 indicates and history demonstrates as well that only those
who risk martyrdom will gain astounding victories. Something to ponder for the
Church of Christ!
Returning now to James 4:15, the problem of the traveling trader is that he
neither takes God’s providence into account, nor gives any thought to God’s
control. As has been indicated in Topical Focus # 16, both Paul in Romans 1
and 15 and the trader in James 4 give it 100%. This is laudable! But while
Paul has his 100% bracketed and undergirded by the 100% God, the trader
has not. Here is the locus of his problem. Since the course of history, both individual
and corporate history, is totally in the sovereign hands of a providing
God, for man not to take this into account in the decision making process
whether it pertains to the past, the present, or the future, is a serious error. In
fact, not to take this into account with regard to the future is a sin of the highest
presumption. It is tantamount, in anticipation of James 4:16, to being an
arrogant and evil “boaster” and “bragger.” The poison of the tongue, indeed,
hell fire itself, is manifest once again! In a nutshell, let the businessman, and
everyone else for that matter, by all means think as “big” as he possibly can!
But let him recognize as well that he is as “little” as they come. His future is
fully in the hand of God. So he has a choice. He can either boast in his arrogance,
or be humble in his planning. A simple phrase is sufficient to indicate
the latter. Let him acknowledge God’s sovereignty by the use of a statement,
such as suggested by James, “If it is the Lord’s will, we shall both live and do
this or that.” In short, “the will of God” that the businessman should refer to
is God’s will of decree, God’s plan, and its historical outworking in God’s
providence. He hopes and prays that it will favorably impact his planning,
once it materializes.
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