Yield to the Sovereign One in All We Do

James 4:13-17 

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” 16 But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
17 Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.

We often make plans without consulting God first in prayer and patience, sometimes even neglecting to search His word for direction or principles for our decisions.  Proverbs 16:9 instructs is to make plans within the confines of divine sovereignty, not neglecting our responsibilities, yet relying on His guidance and ultimate will for what we do and where we go.  Since we cannot know what tomorrow brings, the godly advice here is to first of all remember that He is the Lord of us who gives breath and paths for our feet to walk in (Ephesians 2:10).  Then in humility and God reliance we must always yield to the will of God over our plans, hopes, and dreams.  Pride says I will definitely do this and that, but humility adds that the this and that are only the things God ordains.  When we boast of what we aim to accomplish outside of yielding and following (Isaiah 30:21) our Master’s footsteps, we boast in our flesh which is evil in its fallen nature.  But when we choose to do good in taking heed with an open ear and observing eye to Christ by His Spirit living in us, then we avoid the sins of omission or the pride of life, which is arrogance from our own feigned sovereignty over our lives.