James 4:13

Verse 13 Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow."Go to now," as an expression, may have been intelligible in the days of King James of England, when our Common Version was made, but it is not good, plain English now, for it does not yield its sense readily. The Syriac is less hidden. It reads: "But what shall we say to those who say?" The idea is that there are those who consider their own wishes as the end of all inquiry in any matter pertaining to themselves. They determine what they intend to do, and this they consider final. As an example, they determine that they will to-day or to-morrow go to a certain city for a given purpose, having no regard whatever to God or his existence. Leaving God out of the calculation, feeling no dependence upon him, or at least for the time being having apparently forgotten their dependence upon him, they go further in their determination. They say: "In that city to which we go we will abide a year, engage in merchandising or other traffic, and accumulate riches." They thus fix a purpose in their minds, determine just when they will engage in carrying it forward, the place of operation, how long it shall continue, and the results. This all sounds very well. But one very important consideration has been neglected, some thing that seems to have been wholly banished and kept studiously out of view, taking not into account the existence of God, his control of human actions, their dependence upon him, and thus they assert that all events are in their own puny human hands. This is irreligious, and approximates infidelity. If any one of you are so indifferent to the obligations that you owe to God, listen.