Living Humbly Under God’s Will - James 4

Pastor Dan Walker, PhD, MDiv

Introduction: Understanding the Importance of God’s Will

Today, we’re going to be talking about “Living Humbly Under God’s Will.” What is God’s will and why is it so important? God’s will for your life is the plan that He created you to live out, and God’s will for your life is the best life you could possibly live.

Sin is living our lives outside of God’s will and plan for us. When we sin and get off track of God’s will, we must repent and get back on track. God’s will is like driving with GPS, because GPS gives us the best and quickest route to our destination.

But if we take a wrong turn, GPS instantly recalibrates to get us back on course. In life, we often trust our own direction and veer off God’s plan. But God, our ultimate GPS calls us to recalibrate our hearts and actions to His perfect direction.

Isaiah 30:21 (ESV) And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.

God is speaking to each one of us, directing us on the right path for our lives. He delights in guiding our lives, if we will but learn to listen to His voice. When we turn off the right path, He will show us how to get on track again.

Yet, many people don’t seem to know what God’s plan is or how to hear His voice. God promises to guide His people and make His direction clear when they are willing to trust Him. The challenge is often not God’s willingness to speak, but our willingness to listen.

Psalm 32:8 (ESV) I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.

In this verse God promises to instruct and teach you on the way to go in life. To receive this promise for your life, you need to believe it, listen to God and follow His directions. The problem for many of us is that we have our own plans and our own will.

We tend to think that we can figure things out on our own. Sometimes we think that our plans are better than God’s. This mindset leads us to rely on ourselves rather than humbly submitting to God’s wisdom.

Proverbs 16:9 (ESV) The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.

Yes, God will allow us to make our own plans independent of His. However, our plans are not God’s will and will not lead to His destination. It is only by following God’s will that our steps will be established and lead to God’s purpose.

In order to live under God’s will, we must be humble and admit that He knows best. Humility begins when we acknowledge our limitations and trust in God’s perfect understanding. Let’s turn to James 4 and learn more about the importance of living humbly under God’s will.

Avoid the Trap of Judging Others

James 4:11 (ESV) Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge.

James gives us an instruction to not speak evil against another believer or anyone. Speech can be categorized in two categories, blessing another or cursing, speaking evil against another. All of our words should be words of blessing, words that are helpful and loving.

When we speak evil against someone, we judge them. When we speak evil we place ourselves above Gods’ law which tells us to love our neighbor. Rather than obeying God’s law in our relationships, we are putting ourselves above the law.

James 4:12 (ESV) There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?

God is the only one who gives laws and He is the only one who is the judge of all mankind. God is able to save a person or destroy them in hell forever. We, as mere men have no right to judge others by speaking evil of them.

Choosing Humility Over Pride in Our Words

Why do people speak evil of others, and why do we often seek to put others down with our words? The answer is pride, because we seek to elevate ourselves over others by putting them down. We feel that we are superior to them and take pleasure in pointing out other’s failures.

Speaking evil could involve cursing someone, calling them names or ridiculing them. Speaking evil would be constantly pointing out someone’s failures in a negative light. Speaking evil could be spreading gossip or false accusations about someone.

Any words that we use that are not said in love are speaking evil. We must replace speaking evil with speaking blessing in love. Humility considers others as more important than themselves and seeks to build them up.

A humble persons avoids the trap of judging others through evil speaking. When we walk in humility, our words reflect the grace that God has shown to us. In this way, our speech becomes an expression of God’s love rather than our pride.

Recognize the Brevity of Life

James 4:13 (ESV) Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—

These next verse also have to do with our speech and the topic of humility. James says, suppose you’re a businessperson with some business plans. You plan to travel to a new town and do business there for a year.

And you plan to make a healthy profit there. What’s wrong with that? Let’s look more closely at this verse and examine what is missing from these plans.

It says, we will travel to a certain town, we will spend a year there, we will trade, we will make a profit. Who seems to be in charge of their life in this verse? It’s we or I.

This person believes they are the captain of their own fate. They know what they are going to do. There is no mention of God in any of these plans.

James 4:14 (ESV) yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

Only God knows the future. Anyone of us could pass away tomorrow or encounter some kind of disaster. We did not choose our birth date, nor will we choose the time of our end.

James likens our lives to a mist that is short-lived and fleeting. Although 70-80 years seems like a long time to us, it is but a mist in light of eternity. The days of our lives are not guaranteed or told to us.

Our main goal in life is not to simply make a profit as these verses indicate. We must recognize the brevity of life with humility. When we do, our priorities begin to align with what truly matters.

Living for What Lasts Forever

As our lives are but a mist, God would have us focus on things of eternal value. The only thing around us in this world that is going to last forever is people. God created people with eternity in their hearts.

Some will spend eternity in God’s kingdom and others will spend eternity tormented in hell. The most valuable use of our lives is building loving relationships with people to lead them to the Lord. Living a life that blesses others and glorifies God matters for eternity.

All too often, we fall into the trap of thinking we’re going to live forever. None of us are going to live forever in this present physical body. But, praise God we can be assured of eternal life in the presence of God.

God’s Word tells us “teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom.” Ask God to help you to use the days He has given you to live wisely in light of eternity. A humble person recognizes the brevity of life.

Align Your Plans with God’s Will

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

Now James tells us how we ought to plan for the future. We need to bring the Lord’s will into our plans. In fact, the Lord’s will should be what determines our plans.

I don’t believe that James is saying, simply make your plans and then say if the Lord wills they will happen and if not, they won’t. What James is saying is that we make our plans aligned with God’s will as best we can.

Even then, we must be humble, for God does not usually tell us a detailed plan for the rest of our lives. God will always give you the next step in His plan. As we obey, we believe that He will give us the next step.

James 4:16 (ESV) As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.

Leaving God out of our future plans is prideful and boastful. Boasting is another form of evil speech. This type of boasting is really putting the person in the place of God in their lives.

As we talking about last Sunday, God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Boasting is evil speech directed toward God and often meant to impress others. A humble heart seeks God’s approval rather than human applause.

James 4:17 (ESV) So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.

We often think of sin as doing the wrong thing, which it is. Those are sins of commission. But sin is also not doing the right thing, which are sins of omission.

Not seeking God’s will and plan for the practical things of life is sin. A humble person will align their plans with God’s will. Obedience flows naturally from humility.

Developing a Lifestyle of Seeking God’s Direction

Why do people often ignore God in their plans for their lives? The main reason is that they think they can do it themselves. That is a prideful attitude that God won’t bless.

Another reason that people ignore God in their plans is that they don’t believe He will tell them His plans. God promises to show you His plan for your life, including the details. But you have to do your part in listening to Him.

You can’t hear God clearly if you are living in known sin of any kind. You can’t hear God clearly if you’re not daily spending time in prayer and reading His Word. You won’t be able to hear God clearly if you’re not an active part of a biblical church.

Spend time seeking God’s will for your plans, both the plans for the next day, the next year and the next decade. This is not a one-time prayer, but a daily lifestyle of aligning your plans with God’s will. Humility keeps us dependent on God day by day.

Conclusion: Trusting God’s Perfect Direction

As we’ve talked today of living humbly under God’s will, let bring our thoughts back to that GPS device. An instrument designed to guide us to our desired destination. We’ve all had times where we’ve ignored it’s direction, thinking we had shortcut.

Then we ended up lost or delayed because of an unforeseen problem in the road. In a similar way, life is full of crossroads, turns and confusing intersections. We often think that we know the best route and don’t need or want God’s help.

Yet, today, God’s Word has told us that God’s sovereign eternal plan is what determines the best path for our lives. If you know you’ve wandered from God’s path, there is hope today. Just like that GPS, God is there to help you recalibrate your path and bring you back into God’s will.

Let’s daily check our spiritual GPS through prayer, God’s Word and our church family. God knows the roadblocks and detours ahead that we can’t see. He desires to guide you to a destination filled with hope, purpose and eternal joy.

Let’s commit to living humbly under God’s will, trusting in His perfect direction for every turn in our journey.

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