Daily Devotion: Let God Do It!

Scripture:
James 4: 13-15

Main Verse:
James 4: 15
Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.”

Observation:
The apostle James cautioned us against boasting about our future plans without approaching the Lord first. Sometimes, we say things like "I want to give my family a good future. I will work abroad, earn and save money so I can retire after 10 years"; or, we say "I will enter graduate school, finish it within 3 to 5 years, and get a great job"; or, "I will set up a business, establish it within the next 2 to 4 years, and enjoy the fruit of my labor." But, only God knows what can happen to us tomorrow. We sometimes forget that only God holds our future. We may plan, but we do not know what would happen tomorrow (v. 14). We like saying "I will do this, I will do that," but in our decision-making process, we forget to seek God's will. Yes, God wants us to have a prosperous life, but along with prosperity is the condition of soliciting God's will first.

Application:
Often times, we forget to ask the Lord's will and get so excited about planning for our future. In fact, what we often do is we make the plans first, prepare, and make the final decisions, and then that's the time we pray to God to give us wisdom and to help make our plans successful. However, the first and most important thing that we should have done is to pray and ask for God's guidance first. It is not bad to desire a good life, but the Lord wants us to put Him first in our everyday lives. We often put God first in our spiritual affairs, but we should also prioritize him in the practical affairs of our lives. When we make plans without seeking God's divine sovereignty first, we are setting ourselves for failure. Let us remember what the psalmist in Psalms 37:5 tells us to "Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass." Our motto in life as Christians shouldn't be "Let's do it" but "Let God do it!"

Prayer:
Father, forgive me when I forget to seek your will first. Thank you for reminding me that You should be above everything else in my life. I commit all my plans to to you. Let your will be done in all my undertakings. AMEN.