Do I Really Have to Say Lord Willing?

James 4:13–16 and the Critique of Presumptuous Speech

So I mean he is he is making a critique on the words is this doesn't just reduce to like a A critique on their hidden motivations or something like that, right? I mean he could have said come now you who think like he could have said that right come now you who think That today or tomorrow we're gonna go and do all this stuff, right?

But it's not a critique on what they think. It's a critique on what they're saying.

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Welcome to bible bash where we aim to equip the saints for the works of ministry by answering the questions. You're not allowed to ask. We're your host harrison kerrigan pastor tim mullett and today we'll answer the age-old question.

Do I really have to say lord willing now tim as we kick this episode off? What bible verse do you have for us related to the phrase lord willing?

James 4:13-16 and Saying “If the Lord Wills”

Yes, so the natural place to go is james 4 13 through 16 Which says 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 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? Instead you ought to say if the lord wills who will live and do this or that as it is you boast in your arrogance.

All such boasting is evil. So there you go.

Okay, so a pretty uh open and shut case just say If if the lord wills every time right, right, there you go. All right, pretty short episode, huh? That's it man. All right, let's pack it up. Okay, okay, but You know, I I think a lot of people they read a verse like that and then they think well I've i've unlocked the cheat code.

I figured out the magic formula to Get whatever I want. I just have to say lord willing. Is that is that what this this bible verse is saying?

Empty Phrases, Ritualism, and the Heart Behind Speech

Yeah, so well, I guess people have a lot of different reactions to this and I mean I um, I mean, I suppose like a lot of people critique the idea that you should actually say this phrase or something, you know comparable a lot of people critique the idea that you should say this phrase by appealing to The the principle that you're mentioning essentially, I mean the idea that just you're parroting some kind of Empty phrase, you know, isn't this kind of similar to what jesus is talking about with his vein repetitions or empty phrases?

Like he I guess it is actually important that you mean what you say that you're not just kind of Saying empty phrases just because you're told to say them or something along those lines. So a lot of people they do Have that kind of reaction as if anything.

You know part of what's happening is there's there's a Critique that's being made against anything that may feel ritualistic or formulaic. And I certainly when you pray, I mean a lot of people will pray in jesus name.

We pray. Amen, right? They'll say they'll say something along those lines and then they they really have no idea why they're saying that right? It's just something that they've been taught to say as they pray.

So they'll say in jesus name. I pray amen. Not really even understanding theologically what's happening there. So, I mean when you say in jesus name, I pray amen what you are saying you're making a profound theological statement.

You're saying that the only way I have access to the father is by virtue of what jesus did on the cross so that you know god doesn't just Like treat my prayers as if they're an abomination or something along those lines he hears my prayers because of what jesus did and i'm i'm appealing to his sacrifice on my behalf as my only means of Reconciliation with the father and doing that so a lot of people they may not Really even know Why they're saying a phrase like that in jesus name.

I pray amen, you know, they may not even know why they're. I I would think that you know, lord willing is a little more intuitive, but it can be this thing you just throw out in some kind of Superstitious way or something and I think a lot of people like like a reverse psychology on god.

Yeah, maybe like it's a good luck charm or something like that, um in the similar way that you know people yeah I mean people treat prayer. You know before a meal or something like that. Like if you don't pray before a meal, then you're going to get a stomach ache or you know The food will be poisoned or something along those lines.

Everyone's going to get sick. So you got to cover your bases and make sure you pray in order to you know. Because there may be some like hex or something on you. If you don't you know kind of thing and so then people could treat this phrase like that like if you don't say it it's like some kind of superstitious thing you say just to make sure that You're covering your bases.

So god doesn't have some excuse just uh completely and totally mess up your plan, you know, so You know, I think people joke around about it along those lines too. Like meaning oh, well, you didn't say lord willing remember when you said that ha ha you didn't say lord willing now everything got messed up and you know, I think there's certainly some truth to the fact that um, you know, maybe god can ironically arrange your you know providence in such a way that uh To as a teaching tool to help you to remember to acknowledge him in your your plans, you know uh and bring those things to mind when you didn't you know, so but I I certainly like god's not like a Petty and vindictive tyrant that's like just looking to get you, you know kind of thing or something along those lines But then people people can treat it like a magical talisman to ward off disaster or something like that.

But that isn't really what's happening in the verse for sure.

Antinomianism, Heart and Behavior, and the Need to Acknowledge God

Yeah, so so does that mean I guess? If people are using it if there are some people who are using it as a sort of you know, like you said a good luck charm or Like a hey if I you know God is my magic genie and if I say the magic the magic password then he'll give me what I want.

Sure, there are people who treat it that way. So then does that mean that? It's better to just to not say the phrase and and. As long as I know I I mean the phrase in my heart. Then there's no value in actually saying it out loud and in fact, it might even be better if I don't say it out loud lest I be the the lamp rubbing christian.

Yeah, I mean most people are antinomians so when they come to passages like this, they They don't really have a category for just treating these passages in a pretty straightforward way so most people are antinomian and they really um.

If they really don't understand. How god's commands are meant to form are meant to you know form your character and form your heart. So then they'll treat pretty much any kind of command that you're going to find in the bible.

As if it's kind of a suggestion, right? Or or they'll they'll do do what you're saying. They'll treat it almost as if like the intention behind every command Is not the act itself, but just your heart so to speak, right?

Right. So like as long as your heart is in the right place There is a kind of you know. Quote unquote your heart's in the right place. Like there's a kind of christian who will basically Feel free to ignore anything.

The bible says right to actually do. Because they don't want to be legalistic and so like in their mind in their mind. The it would be better just to ignore what god says. Than it is to embrace the fact that he tells you actually to do certain things that he wants you to do.

Uh, so there's a I think a lot of people there's there's a profound kind of misunderstanding about how the heart You know interfaces if you want to put it that way with the behavior. Like meaning there's a connection between your heart and your behavior and your words.

And a lot of people get it precisely opposite, you know, so they think like as long as their heart's in the right place like that's the like commands like this the only intention of this is just to Tell you to get your heart in the right place and then whether or not you rigidly follow it or something like that.

It's really immaterial. It's irrelevant. So long as you in your heart is right, you know but then the part of the problem is that. Like when you think about a passage like this, this is not Doing that, okay.

Like me, what do you mean? Right? So let's read it again. Let's read it again. Verse 13, right? It says 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 so notice like there is. There's a commentary on a manner of speech, right? So basically james is looking at them and saying hey you who say this thing, right? Like come now you who say such thing you say this thing and he gives like a specific manner of communication, right?

And then he gives a critique he says so you say hey today or tomorrow. We're going to go into such as such a place and spend a year there and try to make a profit. So he's looking at that and he's saying hey, there's something wrong with what you just said.

Okay, right, right. So he so he's basically saying hey yet yet he says yet you uh, yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring right? For what is your life you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

So he basically says like like you come now you who? Basically say like dogmatically declare your future plans. Like you you're saying this like that you're going to do this in the future. And he's saying but you don't know what tomorrow will bring for what is your life.

You're a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes, right? So you could die right like you could die today. You don't like there's no like. Like if you're saying hey, yeah tomorrow we're going to do this thing.

You may not be even be around right? You're just your your life is a vapor. It's a it's a mist like god's in god's sovereign. He's in control. He could Like his appointed number of days for you could end tomorrow, right?

So he's looking at him and he's saying you're you're you're saying like you're going to do something in a very confident way. But then you should realize you you don't know what a day will bring right?

But then what he says is instead, you know Verse 15 you ought to say right? So instead of saying what you're saying you ought to say this right if the lord wills we will do this or do that, right? And then he says as it is you boast in your arrogance all such boasting is evil so basically he's saying that.

Like when you communicate like dogmatically communicate these plans. That you're going to do and you leave god's sovereignty out of it. Like what what he's saying is you're boasting in your arrogance like that's what your words are doing.

You're boasting in your arrogance about what you're going to do like not. Keeping in mind that god can come in and mess up your plans, right? And so yeah, I mean the critique is on what their words are right?

So like they're they're making these plans without any reference to god's sovereignty whatsoever. And he tells them what they ought to say, you know, and I don't think it's meant to be like an exact Formula That you must follow because he says instead you ought to say if the lord wills we will live and do this or that like meaning it's it's what it's meant like that's not uh, That's not like a phrase you should say every time right?

Like if the lord wills we will do this and we would do this or do that. What it's meant to be is it's meant to be um. A pattern of communication that should actually show up in your words, right? So like we should like if the lord wills we will live and we will do X or y or z, you know, whatever those x or y or z like you should model your speech after what he's telling you to model after instead of.

Like the way he's criticizing which leaves god's sovereignty and god's um Plans out of it, right? So I I think that like the issue is like most people are looking at this kind of passage and they're saying hey.

All that matters is that your heart's in the right place. But his critique is actually very different his critique is saying When you communicate with your words like these dogmatic plans without reference to god's sovereignty.

You're boasting and that's wrong and you ought to include god's sovereignty. In the way that you're wording this, right? Right. So like you ought to you ought to acknowledge like that like if god wills, uh Will do this or that like you ought to acknowledge that in in in your manner of speaking.

And so like the idea though is to say that you like this is actually Something he's putting forward to you as a kind of communication that you should follow, right? All right, not like an optional thing.

Like this isn't like an optional thing. This is something you should do you should speak like this um, and so like the issue is like, um. In the bible over and over again say out of the heart the mouse speaks, right?

Yeah. So if you make like here's the thing if you make a pattern of just like In a lazy way just saying hey, yeah tomorrow we're gonna do this and do that and you don't mention god sovereignty in that at all.

What's happening is you're training your heart to expect that there will be a tomorrow, right? Like in your so what's happening is your words are revealing within your heart. That's what the bible will say as the man thinks in his heart.

So is he right like the good treasure of a good Uh good treasure of a good heart brings forth good right an evil man with the evil treasure of an evil heart brings forth evil. Out of the heart of the mass speaks like what comes out will reveal what your heart is like so the kind of person who really does like have in the forefront of their heart.

That god is sovereign over everything god hasn't promised me tomorrow, right? I don't know what a day will bring. They're going to speak like that, right? Yeah, and the kind of person who doesn't have that in the forefront of their mind Isn't going to speak like that.

They're going to boast in their arrogance. And so, you know, it's amazing like when you think about this topic in general because so many people they refuse to speak. In the way that james is telling them to speak right here.

Like in they in you know, if if you if you say hey, you should say lord willingly. Yeah. No, I know that you know I don't think they have to say it every time or something like that. But part of the problem is that it like how many christians do you know that every single time they go through a trial?

What are they asking? Like get me out of this get me out of this why me, you know, how could why me? How could god allow this right? Like, uh, You know, I don't know what he's trying to show me in this, you know kind of thing, right?

And all that like it just shows like like that's that's almost like every christian every professing christian I know when they go through any kind of difficult situation. They're confused. They're befuddled, right?

They have no idea why god would do this like why is this happening? Why me? What is god trying to teach me through this, you know? I don't know what he's trying to tell me. And what that tells you is they don't think like this like right?

And the issue is they don't really speak like this too, right? Like the issue is they don't think like this because they have a pattern of communication in in their life, right? Which is they don't acknowledge these things, right?

So, you know, they don't acknowledge on a regular basis. Hey, you know lord willing we're gonna Go to the park tomorrow, right? Like they don't they don't speak like that. And so you know the main temptation I think that most people experience in life really is they do experience the temptation to think That god has promised them a long life a healthy life.

Like most people think that they're going to live into their 80s or 90s and that's just going to be the way it is. Most people think that they're gonna like their kids are going to bury them not that they're going to have to bury their kids, right?

Most people think that yeah, I mean You know, most men probably think that like their wife is going to outlive them. They're not going to have like anything bad happening. Like they're not going to have cancer.

They're not going to have um, um. You know some kind of degenerative brain condition or whatever else most people aren't thinking. Yeah, you know what I may get alzheimer's Dementia or something like that.

That's on the radar for me. That could be on the radar for me. Like no one is thinking. Yeah, you know what? Maybe my kids can get kidnapped, you know, maybe they'll get kidnapped. Maybe that's part of god's plan.

I'm not promised tomorrow, right? I'm not promised a long help healthy happy life With them. So most people they're not thinking that every day that they've received from god is a gift. And they're not counting their blessings every day, right?

Like they take for granted that their life is going to go in a pretty normal way. Just like most people's lives go. And when you know god interrupts those plans, they're just totally baffled and confused and the reason why they're totally baffled and confused Is because they didn't learn the lesson that james wants them to learn right?

Which is like how you train your heart like you train your heart to get ready for trials. By Constantly reminding yourself that god hasn't promised you tomorrow, right? Right. So like that's I think that's the message there for sure.

So do you think that someone is in sin if they don't say it out loud if they don't say. If the lord wills or lord willing something along those lines, are they in sin? Are they? Are they um.

Breaking breaking the command that james has given here. Yeah. I mean he's clearly I mean, I think james is clearly saying You ought to say if the lord wills we will live and do this or that. And so he's he's he's not just saying you need to secretly think that your heart he's saying you ought to say if the lord wills we will do this or do that and And you know as it is you boast in your arrogance.

And all such boasting is evil so what he's saying is like if you If you just basically say put it out there and you say it and like that that's a boastful claim that you're making. So, I mean you have to think about what he's actually critiquing, right?

And what he's actually critiquing is not like some hidden heart attitude. He's critiquing words, right? Right. He's saying that like these words right out of the heart of the mouth speak these words reveal this about your heart, right?

And so I would say that yeah your words reveal what was in your heart and and so I I do think like god wants you to acknowledge like In in I mean just look at how people respond to trials and you'll see that they're not good at it, right They aren't good at this, right?

Like at all, you know, this is the People come to counseling and they you just you know, man, like they're going through a trial. They have no idea why it's happening. They have no theology of trials because they've never Like spent any significant amount of time Like reminding themselves that they're not promised tomorrow and if the lord will still do this or that like this isn't something They really believe right?

It's something that I mean they know deep down, you know, yeah hypothetically but you know, I probably probably it's not gonna happen but um, yeah, no, I I think it's it's it um, Yeah, I I think people I think to fail to acknowledge god in your Future plans is boasting by definition.

And god's saying that all such boasting Is evil, you know, so sure. Yeah.

Now do you think oh keep going keep going this way. Uh, so do you think then that the person on the flip side of it the person who says Who who is saying that phrase thinking in their mind as long as I say this i'm gonna god's gonna give me what I want.

Because i'm obeying him or you know, um, it's essentially this the secret. The secret password that'll give me whatever I want. Do you think that they are? Uh also in sin or is that a is that like a maybe a lesser violation somehow, but not necessarily sin because they are at least willing to Say the say the thing that's been commanded to say.

Motives, Obedience, and the Problem of Authenticity

Yeah, I mean, you know every moral action has different components so I mean there is the behavior component of every moral action and then there's like The heart behind it the motivation behind it. So I mean you can think of Passages in scripture where like the heart is Quote unquote the heart is in the right place so to speak, but then the behavior is wrong and that isn't like sufficient, right?

So you think about something like as a steadying the ark? I mean, i'm sure that that's a pretty good desire he had to keep the ark from falling on the ground. But it was a bad action, right? So god right god Gave instructions in the law about how the ark was to be transported.

So in that instance you have like a good Quote-unquote a good heart right like a good motivation. With a bad action, you know, but then you can think about um Things along the the opposite end of things.

So I mean like the situation you'd be describing would be a situation where you have a good action. With a bad heart, right? So Sure. I mean, yeah, I don't think either one is ultimately Praiseworthy.

At all, right, I mean like it's not completely praiseworthy. I mean most like but then the issue is like what makes this complicated is that yeah, I mean most of the time I would say are Like god's going to judge the secrets of our heart one day.

And I would say that most of the things that we do in obedience to god probably have a bunch of different hidden motives, which are sneaky or wrong or you know not Wonderful does that make sense? Right?

Yeah. I mean even on our best days. I mean, I think like we're complicated I mean I I you know, you can think about everything i've ever done that was Probably good or praiseworthy and you could pick it apart and I think there were good motives there and there are bad motives there.

You know and got one of the god's gonna sort it all out. But I mean, I think with most things in life Yeah, I would certainly rather a person do the right thing in most areas of life. Even if they're there's some weird motives underneath the surface, right?

So I mean just Yeah, I mean I would rather you not go through with that plan to shoot up the school right. It was like if someone were to um, like If you have some like crazy plan or something like that To murder a bunch of people and then you don't go through with it for the wrong reasons or something.

It's like well i'd rather you do the right action with the wrong Motive then just Just just well, you know I don't know that I have a good motive here for not doing it, you know, so I just might i've already failed.

So I might as well just go all the way with it you know and a lot of people think that way like as if in the reason why people think that way is because there's This big push in our culture and society to be authentic, you know and then authenticity is like seen as a virtue and so then like if you you know, if you're Doing the right thing with you know In an inauthentic way.

It's almost seen as like worse than you know. Like you might as well just go ahead and do the wrong thing or something like that. It's like well, that isn't really the way. Moral.

Yeah, I don't feel I don't feel like i'm going to like i'm in the right place to go to church and worship god today. So I better just not go at all, right?

I mean a lot of people like for a lot of people that kind of thing makes sense. And I would say that you know, the only way you're going to train your heart To love the right thing for the right reason is to do it regardless of how you feel, right?

And then you make a habit of doing it regardless of how you feel and then then you that's the way you train your heart. Right. It's like you don't just surrender just because your heart's not in the right place or something like that.

It's like well The bible says that god loves the cheerful giver and you know I don't really want to give this money right now because everything's tight and You know, so I think i'm have the temptation to give it grudgingly.

So i'm just not going to give it at all. It's like wait, you just give it man. Like give it and ask god to cleanse your heart right and change your heart, you know. So I think there's plenty of things like that where people, you know, their motives may not be wonderful.

But I mean, I think the thing is like the situation you're mentioning is not really a realistic scenario. Like in the main like meaning like people who really train themselves to think this way like and say it like they believe it you know like because it isn't just intuitively easy to Like always bring that up, you know so, I mean I think in the main the people who have the most success in Keeping that like in actually saying it are people who are intentionally trying to bring that in the forefront of their mind.

In order to remind themselves that they're not promised tomorrow and that all such boasting is evil. You know, so I mean I there there was I mean during our first. Um. You know my wife's first pregnancy or whatever.

I I remember like we would just talk on and on and on about like when the baby comes and we're gonna do this. And we're gonna do this and all that and I mean we we talk that way, you know we we we we talk that way and you know at a certain point I Just like looked at her and I was like we we really need to stop talking this way.

Like we're not promised a healthy delivery, you know. Like there were not promised a problem-free delivery. I mean you may not survive this the kid, you know. Our our son may not survive this like we're not promised any of this, you know I'm not trying to be morbid or creepy or something, but we just We need to adjust our wording here, you know, because we're just taking it for granted that.

This is going to happen. I mean it was amazing. Yeah, and it's amazing in her delivery. The cord was wrapped around his neck and you know. The doctor came in 10 minutes later and say that said to us that he may like die or have significant brain damage.

And I know that like in that moment We had been preparing for Like the reality that we're not promised tomorrow and that our plans may not go what like they they should. And it wasn't like totally destabilizing to us.

It was a thought that entered into our brain, right? That like we're not promised an easy delivery. And then when our our son was in the nicu for a week. On a cooling bed, you know. With the possibility of severe brain damage.

We weren't thinking. Oh, man, like, um, how could god do that? Because we had reminded ourself just like the scripture told us if the lord wills, you know. He'll come and he'll be healthy and you'll have a delivery and you'll you know.

Survive this and all this kind of stuff, you know and so I think a lot of people they don't really want to step into that because that just sounds negative and eeyore and depressing and You know, oh, you know, don't bring that up, you know, and people can even be superstitious about that.

You know, like don't speak that evil on us.

You know. Don't don't manifest that.

Yeah, but I mean the reality is like if if you want to handle trials Well, which james is a book on how to handle trials among other things if you want to handle trials Well, you better start acknowledging like that.

You may face one, right? Right with your words instead of pretending like it can never happen, right? So yeah fair enough. Yeah. Yeah, so I guess um. As my final question.

Do we have to say it every time like should my expectation for myself be I in every um in every Thing that I speak where it would be applicable to say if the lord wills or lord willing I must say it. Is that the The expectation I should have for myself or should I have should I have a uh.

You said Don't even don't even let him get the rest of it out. It's just yes that that that's what you need to do. Okay, so there's the opposite. I mean, you know the opposite is going to be like hey, what about 80 percent of the time?

I mean, I think 50 percent of the time he's saying he's giving you a critique, you know. And the critique is you know come now. Who uh you who say today or tomorrow will go into such and such town spend a year there and try to make a profit.

Right. So the critique is like the person who's basically making these plans like these future plans dogmatically declaring what they're going to do, right? Uh without any reference to like god's providence in that right that god's providence could interrupt that and he's saying Instead you ought to say if the lord wills we're going to carry out these plans we're talking about right?

As it is you boast in your arrogance all such boasting is evil. So I do think yeah, he's saying that To fail to acknowledge god's sovereignty in your plans Is boasting in arrogance, right? So I mean he is he is making a critique on the words is this doesn't just reduce to like a A critique on their hidden motivations or something like that, right?

I mean he could have said come now you who think like he could have said that right come now you who think That today or tomorrow we're going to go and do all this stuff, right? But it's not a critique on what they think it's a critique on what they're saying, right?

So I do think I do think that they ought to include like some acknowledgement and I mean I don't think the text is meant to tell you like like it must be this exact formula because he says As it is you ought to say if the lord wills we will live and do this or that I mean you have to communicate.

You know with words, right? So there's not like some like you're not supposed to communicate that in greek or something. You're going to be in sin or like that exact expression. Like but I do think like you need to In some way communicate like make like with your words like I'm not promised tomorrow like so I need to be communicating that with my words.

If the lord wills, you know lord willing, um, you know, um. Yeah, yeah, you know. Yeah, definitely unless god, you know, unless I get in a wreck man, i'll be there, you know, unless god messes up, you know.

Unless I get in a wreck or get in the hospital or you know, I don't know what i'll be there you can count on me, you know, unless some supernatural act of god's providence comes and You know, and I mean I sometimes will say Silly things like that, but I mean I I am trying to communicate with my words that yeah lord willing we'll do it.

Yeah, sure so I think the more I think that um. Yeah, god god doesn't want us to not just simply Throw out this confident expectation that we're promised tomorrow, you know communicate that with the words I think we're supposed to make Plans in light of the fact that god is sovereign for sure.

Yep.

Trials, Providence, and Training the Heart

Yeah, and I guess that does make sense and and when you consider the the wider context of James where he's very much focused on um not a not a faith that is inward only but a faith that um Produces action and produces good fruit, you know, and and so so that does that does make a lot of sense to say hey.

Like how could james? How could james say all of this about you know a dead? Um, you know, show show me your faith uh by your words and i'll show them by my by my actions essentially right and. And he has such a such a large focus on um.

You know a living faith which involves Good fruit, right meaning you're you're actively doing things. You're actively performing actions That that fall in line with the commands given by god, right? Yeah.