In my younger days, older people had some unusual sayings. I didn’t realize then that many of them were based on Scripture. One saying I would hear often is “Lord willing and the creek don’t rise.” Young and naïve, I didn’t understand why they had to say “Lord willing,” and I sure didn’t understand anything about a “creek rising.” We find the origin in James 4:15.

James says that, instead of announcing our plans, we “ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that’” (v. 15). We don’t say this much anymore. Maybe we know that our next breath is dependent upon the Lord, but we don’t verbally express it. Clearly, the audience James is addressing did not say it or believe it. His caution was aimed at people who believed they were in control of their own destiny, particularly high-power businesspeople.

James was not disparaging those who make money or have their own business. In fact, that would contradict Scripture. Look at the woman in Proverbs 31: “She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings she plants a vineyard” (Prov. 31:16). “She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes” (31:24). Rather, James is addressing the attitude of those who don’t consider God’s grace in their life. He identifies this attitude as boasting in your “arrogant schemes” (v. 16).

At first glance, verse 17 seems to be out of place. To properly apply this verse we need to answer the question: “What is the good to which James was alluding?” Doing business with the right attitude regarding God’s grace in your life. That is good. It is only by God’s grace that we can live, travel, conduct a business, and make a profit. These are gifts from God.

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