James 4: 11-17 NLT
13 Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” 14 How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. 15 What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.”
James wrote a very straightforward and practical letter to the Church that was scattered and expanded by God’s plan. His directions were short and to the point. In the 4th chapter he reminds us not only of the brevity of life but prideful and entitled manner in-which we live our lives. We too often tend to make selfish decisions based on our needs and wants with little to no acknowledgement that God not only blessed us with this life but with a purpose for each minute, hour and day that we are given as we travel along this journey. James does not tell us that God has any issue with our planning and succeeding in life but God wants a relationship where we come to Him in prayer to seek his direction and blessing on our decisions. Considering the short time we have here together we should all want to get as much out of it as we can and that can only happen by how much we put into it by acknowledging God first.