For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
All talk about tomorrow must admit that living and doing anything depends on the Lord's will, and mean that dependence sincerely instead of stating plans with certainty. To live means the Lord must spare life and give strength and fitness to act, since people are mortal and even earnest hope to meet again is conditional. To do this or that covers every intended act such as travel and work, visits and meetings, writing and business, where to stay and how long, illustrated by Paul promising to return to Ephesus only if God willed. People do not know what the future brings while God alone knows the end from the beginning and the outcome of every movement, so human wisdom is insufficient and trust must rest in God rather than own strength and control. Every plan must therefore be spread before God and held subject to His providence day by day, ready to carry out or give up as He directs, yet holding work conditional does not mean hesitation but pursuing it earnestly without delay.
Meaning of Words
What ought to be said about the future is that living and doing this or that will take place if the Lord wills, and that dependence is to be meant sincerely rather than stated as certainty. This covers traveling to be in a place over Sabbath and Sunday when requested, taking the cars to travel to another city tomorrow, attending meetings and visiting others, and deciding where to travel, how long to stay, and returning again later for more work. It also covers sending a letter in two weeks, acknowledging dependence for life and for fitness to write. It holds even a greatly needed and in many respects well-suited desire, such as to purchase three hundred acres near the Sanitarium offered for three thousand dollars as a site for an orphanage, as dependent on the Lord willing it, sought by prayer for Him to open the way and discerned in the way opening to purchase it.
To live means continued living depends on the Lord sparing life and giving strength and fitness to act. Plans for future work, hoped-for publications and printing work, and bringing out further books to help over a few more years happen only if life is preserved and the work is permitted to be done. One who is sick and weak and unsure of recovery, yet desires to travel to join others for the General Conference, makes the journey conditional on God giving life and strength to do it. Even earnest hope to meet again is conditional because people are mortal, since time hurries and days and weeks fly swiftly, and if that meeting is not the Father's will His will is to be accepted rather than one's own.
To do this or that covers any intended living and doing, including travel and work, visits and meetings, writing and business, where to stay and how long, and family hopes such as marriage. The decision to go to Battle Creek and stay at the Sanitarium, thoughts of visiting San Diego and staying in a house there and trying the climate once more, and the intention to spend time with the Andersons are stated conditionally, acknowledging that whether they happen is not simply a matter of human choice. Plans for travel and work may be made, but their fulfillment depends on God's providence, with willingness to go where duty leads while trusting the Lord to direct what will actually happen. Plans for the future, including the expected marriage and having a daughter in the family, are conditional on the Lord's will.
Paul's promise to return to Ephesus if God willed illustrates making plans to live and act subject to the Lord's will. His plans and actions depended on the Lord.
Dependence on God
The verse rests on the fact that people do not know what the future will bring and cannot determine it with certainty, so no outcome of going somewhere or doing something is to be treated as certain. Seeing loved ones again is therefore to be held as a hope, not assumed, because the time and outcome remain uncertain. Human wisdom is not sufficient for planning, because human planning is not always the Lord's way and God alone knows the end from the beginning. He alone sees past errors and knows the outcome of every movement.
In loving care God may block a desired path that a person would insist on directing apart from Him, because the duties and opportunities already at hand may better prepare that person for future service. What is withheld may prove to be a blessing, and human plans may fail so that God's plans can succeed. He may dispose events to prevent ruin, so expected success in speculation is no sure guide for living and acting.
Trust is to be placed in Him rather than in one's own strength, control, reliance on self, or self-direction, acknowledging dependence on God in every undertaking and waiting humbly for divine guidance instead of going ahead. Both life and what one intends to do depend on God, and plans and actions are to be stated as conditional on the Lord's will. If a hoped-for meeting again, with both lives needing to be spared, is not the Father's will, His will is to be accepted rather than one's own. Even when glad to make a particular move, a person may have to remain where he is and seek to do the Lord's will in all decisions. No one should lay plans and then think the Lord must work to those plans, for the Lord works for each person's best good, and if He calls to another work than what has been done it is only because His will can be better accomplished in that other line of work.
Humble Submissive Planning
In every undertaking dependence on God is to be acknowledged and plans made subject to His will, waiting humbly for divine guidance rather than relying on self or going ahead of the Heavenly Guide. This is a willingness to go where duty leads while trusting the Lord to direct what will actually happen.
Every plan is to be spread before God and made only under His will and direction, for human wisdom is not sufficient for planning because God alone sees past errors and knows the outcome of every movement. Plans are to be committed to the Lord with fasting and humbling of soul, with faith, hope and trust, with sharp, calm, deep thinking and full use of every ability, not with weak, listless, indolent faith. Talents of means and ability are to be consecrated under the Holy Spirit and not used selfishly to buy and sell and get gain, and no one is to move haphazard but to fall into line keeping step with Jesus. Those who so submit their ways receive direction, wisdom, grace, and the ministry of angels.
Life and plans are to be held subject to God's providence one day at a time, consecrating self and children to God each morning and placing every plan before Him, ready to carry it out or give it up as His providence directs. Future times, including when one will travel or return, are not to be fixed with certainty but left subject to the Lord's will.
Instead of declaring we will do this or that, marking out one's own line for all to follow, and asserting one's own doing for God, a person is to stand ready, watching and praying, prepared to do what God commands through consecrated agencies. Inclination, will, and wishes are to be bent to God's cause, trusting His grace sufficient to overcome natural infirmities. Asserting self feeds growing selfishness that grasps every possible advantage and material for one's chosen work while depriving fellow workers of what they need.
The verse calls for confessing errors and humbling oneself rather than defending a hasty, harsh course, and for taking the words of James's fourth chapter to heart and practicing them to correct selfish conduct and bring a different spiritual atmosphere. Holding future labor and camp meetings conditional on divine permission does not mean hesitation, unbelief, or delay, for the work must still be intended, pursued earnestly, and advanced without hesitation. So proposing to repeat a camp meeting the next year in Stanmore or nearer Sydney, and planning to arrive safely and hold camp meetings in several cities and regions, are rightly made conditional on the Lord's will and favor while moving forward without hesitation and unbelief.
The Lord's willing is sought by prayer and discerned in the way opening. Thus the desire to purchase three hundred acres near the Sanitarium offered for three thousand dollars, greatly needed and in many respects well suited as a site for an orphanage, was to be held dependent on the Lord willing it, sought by prayer for Him to open the way. In the same way understanding how to manage the Buena Vista transaction is to be sought from God, with the aim of glorifying His name.
Conditional Plans in Life
Journeys and returns are to be stated as happening only if the Lord wills, for all plans to go somewhere or do something are subject to His will. Going to Battle Creek and staying at the Sanitarium is conditional on whether the Lord wills it, and the intention to visit places again acknowledges that both living and carrying out the plan depend on the Lord. Plans to travel onward through several places and then come home, to go to Oakland on Tuesday, and to travel and return home are expected to happen only if the Lord wills, with the journey acknowledged as possibly not happening as intended. An expected return, such as W. C. White returning in about two months, is stated subject to God's will, and the same condition governs journeying to Colorado, returning to California, settling at Cooranbong in January, traveling to New York the next morning, going to Washington starting on a set Monday, traveling to Los Angeles, visiting San Diego to stay and try the climate, and making a Sabbath visit to Nashville.
Ministry gatherings and visits are to be held conditional on the Lord's will and permission, for plans for future work and what one will do depend on whether He wills it. Testifying at Nimes after the conference in England will happen if the Lord wills, and planned travel with a Sabbath visit is expressed conditionally as dependent on His will. Making Sydney home for the winter is subject to the Lord's will, while the next term of school is planned for with its taking place left dependent on His will. Attendance at dedication meetings for two sanitariums is expected if the Lord wills, and the Ings are invited to come to England and remain or travel with the group only for as long as the Lord permits. The same condition applies to visiting Washington, laboring at a coming camp-meeting, speaking next Sabbath, holding camp meetings in Maitland and at Stanmore or nearer Sydney next year and in several cities and regions, attending the Washington conference and visiting the school, meeting at Loma Linda, planning the next school term, and traveling to future meetings to speak.
Work and writing must be held conditional on the Lord as helper sparing life and giving fitness, for future work depends on His will and on life being preserved. Hoped-for publications and printing work will happen only if life is preserved, and plans to bring out further books are dependent on the Lord continuing life and permitting the work to be done. A promise to do better next time in writing must be left conditional on the Lord's will, since sudden illness can leave a person unfit to write at all and unable to write more at the present time. Plans to live and to do a future act such as sending a letter in two weeks or sending written material by the next mail in two weeks ought to be stated with acknowledgment of dependence on the Lord for life and for fitness to write, with timing and action entrusted to God. Plans to do this or that, such as bringing out books to greatly help God's people over a few more years and proceeding with The Life of Christ, must be held conditionally on the Lord as helper sparing life, for continued living and labor depend on Him, and should life close the printed matter already produced remains to do its work.
Personal hopes and promises about future labor are conditional on the Lord's permission and sparing of life and ability, for life and ability to carry them out depend on Him. An intention to spend two weeks in Battle Creek to fulfill a promise is therefore to be kept only if the Lord permits, and the intention to spend time with the Andersons is stated conditionally as not simply a matter of human choice. Desire and plans to travel to be with others, and a visit hoped for, may happen if the Lord permits and are to be expressed as dependent on His will. Plans about living and returning to a place preferred above all others should be stated as if it were the Lord's will, acknowledging that a person may never see that place again despite expecting to return. Plans for travel and where to spend the winter must be held conditional on the Lord's will, requiring remaining in the east through winter only if He indicates it is duty and the work and cause demand attending to matters there with fellow burden-bearers, and otherwise returning before cold weather by the Southern route with stops at Los Angeles and San Diego, alongside hopes of seeing loved ones again not many weeks hence and of gaining a daughter through Willie's marriage, which also depends on her father's consent.
All talk about tomorrow must admit that living and doing anything depends on the Lord's will, and mean that dependence sincerely instead of stating plans with certainty. To live means the Lord must spare life and give strength and fitness to act, since people are mortal and even earnest hope to meet again is conditional. To do this or that covers every intended act such as travel and work, visits and meetings, writing and business, where to stay and how long, illustrated by Paul promising to return to Ephesus only if God willed. People do not know what the future brings while God alone knows the end from the beginning and the outcome of every movement, so human wisdom is insufficient and trust must rest in God rather than own strength and control. Every plan must therefore be spread before God and held subject to His providence day by day, ready to carry out or give up as He directs, yet holding work conditional does not mean hesitation but pursuing it earnestly without delay.
Meaning of Words
What ought to be said about the future is that living and doing this or that will take place if the Lord wills, and that dependence is to be meant sincerely rather than stated as certainty. This covers traveling to be in a place over Sabbath and Sunday when requested, taking the cars to travel to another city tomorrow, attending meetings and visiting others, and deciding where to travel, how long to stay, and returning again later for more work. It also covers sending a letter in two weeks, acknowledging dependence for life and for fitness to write. It holds even a greatly needed and in many respects well-suited desire, such as to purchase three hundred acres near the Sanitarium offered for three thousand dollars as a site for an orphanage, as dependent on the Lord willing it, sought by prayer for Him to open the way and discerned in the way opening to purchase it.
To live means continued living depends on the Lord sparing life and giving strength and fitness to act. Plans for future work, hoped-for publications and printing work, and bringing out further books to help over a few more years happen only if life is preserved and the work is permitted to be done. One who is sick and weak and unsure of recovery, yet desires to travel to join others for the General Conference, makes the journey conditional on God giving life and strength to do it. Even earnest hope to meet again is conditional because people are mortal, since time hurries and days and weeks fly swiftly, and if that meeting is not the Father's will His will is to be accepted rather than one's own.
To do this or that covers any intended living and doing, including travel and work, visits and meetings, writing and business, where to stay and how long, and family hopes such as marriage. The decision to go to Battle Creek and stay at the Sanitarium, thoughts of visiting San Diego and staying in a house there and trying the climate once more, and the intention to spend time with the Andersons are stated conditionally, acknowledging that whether they happen is not simply a matter of human choice. Plans for travel and work may be made, but their fulfillment depends on God's providence, with willingness to go where duty leads while trusting the Lord to direct what will actually happen. Plans for the future, including the expected marriage and having a daughter in the family, are conditional on the Lord's will.
Paul's promise to return to Ephesus if God willed illustrates making plans to live and act subject to the Lord's will. His plans and actions depended on the Lord.
Dependence on God
The verse rests on the fact that people do not know what the future will bring and cannot determine it with certainty, so no outcome of going somewhere or doing something is to be treated as certain. Seeing loved ones again is therefore to be held as a hope, not assumed, because the time and outcome remain uncertain. Human wisdom is not sufficient for planning, because human planning is not always the Lord's way and God alone knows the end from the beginning. He alone sees past errors and knows the outcome of every movement.
In loving care God may block a desired path that a person would insist on directing apart from Him, because the duties and opportunities already at hand may better prepare that person for future service. What is withheld may prove to be a blessing, and human plans may fail so that God's plans can succeed. He may dispose events to prevent ruin, so expected success in speculation is no sure guide for living and acting.
Trust is to be placed in Him rather than in one's own strength, control, reliance on self, or self-direction, acknowledging dependence on God in every undertaking and waiting humbly for divine guidance instead of going ahead. Both life and what one intends to do depend on God, and plans and actions are to be stated as conditional on the Lord's will. If a hoped-for meeting again, with both lives needing to be spared, is not the Father's will, His will is to be accepted rather than one's own. Even when glad to make a particular move, a person may have to remain where he is and seek to do the Lord's will in all decisions. No one should lay plans and then think the Lord must work to those plans, for the Lord works for each person's best good, and if He calls to another work than what has been done it is only because His will can be better accomplished in that other line of work.
Humble Submissive Planning
In every undertaking dependence on God is to be acknowledged and plans made subject to His will, waiting humbly for divine guidance rather than relying on self or going ahead of the Heavenly Guide. This is a willingness to go where duty leads while trusting the Lord to direct what will actually happen.
Every plan is to be spread before God and made only under His will and direction, for human wisdom is not sufficient for planning because God alone sees past errors and knows the outcome of every movement. Plans are to be committed to the Lord with fasting and humbling of soul, with faith, hope and trust, with sharp, calm, deep thinking and full use of every ability, not with weak, listless, indolent faith. Talents of means and ability are to be consecrated under the Holy Spirit and not used selfishly to buy and sell and get gain, and no one is to move haphazard but to fall into line keeping step with Jesus. Those who so submit their ways receive direction, wisdom, grace, and the ministry of angels.
Life and plans are to be held subject to God's providence one day at a time, consecrating self and children to God each morning and placing every plan before Him, ready to carry it out or give it up as His providence directs. Future times, including when one will travel or return, are not to be fixed with certainty but left subject to the Lord's will.
Instead of declaring we will do this or that, marking out one's own line for all to follow, and asserting one's own doing for God, a person is to stand ready, watching and praying, prepared to do what God commands through consecrated agencies. Inclination, will, and wishes are to be bent to God's cause, trusting His grace sufficient to overcome natural infirmities. Asserting self feeds growing selfishness that grasps every possible advantage and material for one's chosen work while depriving fellow workers of what they need.
The verse calls for confessing errors and humbling oneself rather than defending a hasty, harsh course, and for taking the words of James's fourth chapter to heart and practicing them to correct selfish conduct and bring a different spiritual atmosphere. Holding future labor and camp meetings conditional on divine permission does not mean hesitation, unbelief, or delay, for the work must still be intended, pursued earnestly, and advanced without hesitation. So proposing to repeat a camp meeting the next year in Stanmore or nearer Sydney, and planning to arrive safely and hold camp meetings in several cities and regions, are rightly made conditional on the Lord's will and favor while moving forward without hesitation and unbelief.
The Lord's willing is sought by prayer and discerned in the way opening. Thus the desire to purchase three hundred acres near the Sanitarium offered for three thousand dollars, greatly needed and in many respects well suited as a site for an orphanage, was to be held dependent on the Lord willing it, sought by prayer for Him to open the way. In the same way understanding how to manage the Buena Vista transaction is to be sought from God, with the aim of glorifying His name.
Conditional Plans in Life
Journeys and returns are to be stated as happening only if the Lord wills, for all plans to go somewhere or do something are subject to His will. Going to Battle Creek and staying at the Sanitarium is conditional on whether the Lord wills it, and the intention to visit places again acknowledges that both living and carrying out the plan depend on the Lord. Plans to travel onward through several places and then come home, to go to Oakland on Tuesday, and to travel and return home are expected to happen only if the Lord wills, with the journey acknowledged as possibly not happening as intended. An expected return, such as W. C. White returning in about two months, is stated subject to God's will, and the same condition governs journeying to Colorado, returning to California, settling at Cooranbong in January, traveling to New York the next morning, going to Washington starting on a set Monday, traveling to Los Angeles, visiting San Diego to stay and try the climate, and making a Sabbath visit to Nashville.
Ministry gatherings and visits are to be held conditional on the Lord's will and permission, for plans for future work and what one will do depend on whether He wills it. Testifying at Nimes after the conference in England will happen if the Lord wills, and planned travel with a Sabbath visit is expressed conditionally as dependent on His will. Making Sydney home for the winter is subject to the Lord's will, while the next term of school is planned for with its taking place left dependent on His will. Attendance at dedication meetings for two sanitariums is expected if the Lord wills, and the Ings are invited to come to England and remain or travel with the group only for as long as the Lord permits. The same condition applies to visiting Washington, laboring at a coming camp-meeting, speaking next Sabbath, holding camp meetings in Maitland and at Stanmore or nearer Sydney next year and in several cities and regions, attending the Washington conference and visiting the school, meeting at Loma Linda, planning the next school term, and traveling to future meetings to speak.
Work and writing must be held conditional on the Lord as helper sparing life and giving fitness, for future work depends on His will and on life being preserved. Hoped-for publications and printing work will happen only if life is preserved, and plans to bring out further books are dependent on the Lord continuing life and permitting the work to be done. A promise to do better next time in writing must be left conditional on the Lord's will, since sudden illness can leave a person unfit to write at all and unable to write more at the present time. Plans to live and to do a future act such as sending a letter in two weeks or sending written material by the next mail in two weeks ought to be stated with acknowledgment of dependence on the Lord for life and for fitness to write, with timing and action entrusted to God. Plans to do this or that, such as bringing out books to greatly help God's people over a few more years and proceeding with The Life of Christ, must be held conditionally on the Lord as helper sparing life, for continued living and labor depend on Him, and should life close the printed matter already produced remains to do its work.
Personal hopes and promises about future labor are conditional on the Lord's permission and sparing of life and ability, for life and ability to carry them out depend on Him. An intention to spend two weeks in Battle Creek to fulfill a promise is therefore to be kept only if the Lord permits, and the intention to spend time with the Andersons is stated conditionally as not simply a matter of human choice. Desire and plans to travel to be with others, and a visit hoped for, may happen if the Lord permits and are to be expressed as dependent on His will. Plans about living and returning to a place preferred above all others should be stated as if it were the Lord's will, acknowledging that a person may never see that place again despite expecting to return. Plans for travel and where to spend the winter must be held conditional on the Lord's will, requiring remaining in the east through winter only if He indicates it is duty and the work and cause demand attending to matters there with fellow burden-bearers, and otherwise returning before cold weather by the Southern route with stops at Los Angeles and San Diego, alongside hopes of seeing loved ones again not many weeks hence and of gaining a daughter through Willie's marriage, which also depends on her father's consent.