What does the Bible say about setting goals?

"A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps" (v. 9). A man may spend hours in planning what he will do, but the believer might well spare himself such hours of planning, and rather depend on the Lord to direct him in the way that is good. Of course we should not act without considering the way we go, but it is vital that a believer should take the Lord into his plans, leaving those plans flexible enough to allow the Lord occasion to change them if He will, and with the full confidence that the Lord will direct us rightly.

Perfection of order is of God, and system is God's plan. It is only when man makes a system, which interferes with God's system, and shuts out the action of the Spirit, that it is wrong. It is right to plan, if it be in subjection to the will of God. (See James 4:15.)

We all have to make plans — in our daily lives as well as in the service of the Lord. The apostle also had plans or ideas about what he wanted to do. But we can learn a vital lesson from him: he was always dependant on the guidance of his Lord. He was sensitive to see when the Lord clearly wanted to change his plans and guide him in another direction.

The final paragraph urges dependence on the Lord and warns against making plans for the future without looking to the Lord and His will concerning His people. "Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into this city, and spend a year there, and buy and sell, and get gain; whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow." Such a language shows self-will, forgetfulness of God, and self-confidence. It is planning with God left out. No one knows what the morrow may bring forth; but God knows. "For what is your life? It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will and we live, we will also do this or that."

The child of God who walks in godly fear, trusting the Lord, planning as under Him, will constantly remember that all depends on the Lord and on His will. It is a wholesome habit to add always, when we speak of the future, "if the Lord will and we live"; this is pleasing in His sight and a testimony of our submission to Him and dependence on Him. Otherwise it is the boasting, vain-gloriousness of the self-secure world, which boasts and plans, without thinking of God and His will. The last verse must not be detached from what goes on before. "To him, therefore, that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin." Sin does not consist only in doing evil, but if we do not the good we know, it is also sin. If we do not act according to the fact that we are entirely dependent on God as to the future, we sin.

"The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty" (v. 5). One reason for this is that such a person will not be planning simply for his own welfare, and the result of this will be that he will have plenty to share with others. Interestingly, however, those who make plans hastily are in danger of suffering want, for this lacks the diligence of sober, discerning wisdom in making plans. It is well said that "haste makes waste."

"Plans are established by counsel" (v. 18). If we depend simply on the counsel of the Lord, our plans will be well established. There are times, however, - that we do not have clear direction from scripture as to what we plan, and if so, it is often wise to consult with godly friends, who may be able to direct us to scriptural principles that will help in such matters. When it is a matter of waging war with the enemy of our souls, it is a true benefit to have wise counsel from those who seek the honor of the Lord.

There is another form of this forgetfulness of God to which the apostle turns — a very common one. "Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and spend a year there, and trade, and get gain; ye who know not what will be on the morrow." It is not, as we see directly, that he means to forbid all exercise of thought as to the morrow, but only the spirit of those who plan without God, who forget the uncertainty of everything here: "For what is your life? it is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." It is the spirit of self-confidence he is condemning, which boasts of what it can do without God: "For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, and we shall live, we will also do this or that; but now ye glory in your vauntings. All such glorying is evil."

But verse 13 reproves another matter that also stems from conceit, that is, the confidence in well-laid plans for the future, which depends upon personal wisdom end ability, and with material gain as the object. This is not taking the place of a child before Father, dependent and subject. For we actually know absolutely nothing as to the future. Even our entire life is as a. vapor, appearing momentarily, then vanishing: we have no control over it. Therefore, it is only wisdom to depend utterly upon the Lord, and always modify our plans by the sensible words, "If the Lord will."

But he presses also the necessity of dependence on God in another form in the end of our chapter. That is, we are warned against forming resolutions, plans of our future doings and the like. This too is a practical subject. We ought all to know how much we need to watch against such an ignoring of God above us, and the coming of the Lord. As he says here, "Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow" — not even on the morrow. "For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away, instead of your saying, If the Lord will, and we live, we will also do this, or that. But now ye glory in your boastings: all such glorying is evil." He does not conclude, however, without another appeal to conscience. "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." It is the law of liberty, and of infinite purity and power. It is not only that sin consists in doing evil, but in not doing the good that we know. May we never forget what the new nature loves and feels to be true and holy according to Christ.

The word again condemns false confidence as to the intentions of our own hearts. The heart of man afar from God thinks to direct his own steps, and decides what he will do, without thinking of the will of God, or even of God at all. Possibly the thing intended may not be evil, it may not wound conscience, nor make it uneasy; but God is entirely forgotten; the man acts without God, as though the earth had been left to man, and God had withdrawn, and as though His will counted for nothing. Such a man, as far as regards religion, in the practical things of everyday life, lives in atheism. God is not in his thoughts; money and worldly ambition govern his heart, though he may not be exactly living in sinful pleasures. He has no sense that he belongs to God - bought, if he be a Christian, with the precious blood of Christ. He lays out his plans according to his own will, his own wisdom, and his worldly interests. God has no place in them, he is without God in the world, he seeks earthly things, and truly it is not in them that God is to be found. It is according to the will of God that we should labour to obtain what is necessary, and His blessing can be sought because it is His will. But this is not the question here. James speaks of one who would dispose of his time, and go and seek gain for himself without thinking of God, or looking to Him for guidance and the manifestation of His will. He does not know what the morrow will bring forth; he does not know whether his life will be prolonged until the next day; it is as a vapour which vanishes away. Such is life down here. It becomes us to say, "If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this or that."