Hidden Arrogance

Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit." Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that." But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. - James 4:13-16

James is talking about how we need to humble ourselves in order for God to exalt us. He talks about things that we should avoid in chapter 4 and honestly most, if not all, of the things that he instructs us to avoid can find its root in arrogance or pride. Before at the start of verse 13, I saw it as a shift in topics. He was shifting from avoiding arrogance to not making plans on your own. However, this time I happened to catch verse 16 and how it was a continuation of the previous thought. Verse 16 says, "But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil." I never thought of making my plans on my own would be considered arrogance but it is. It is almost like a hidden arrogance. By making my own plans, I am essentially telling God by my actions that I don't need to take in consideration what He would have for me but that I am going to do what I want to do. It is not the outright spoken arrogance that we are used to but rather a discreet and hidden arrogance. Right now, my friend and I are planning to move off campus senior year to Pasadena and get an apartment with a few other people. For me that sounds like an excellent idea but I have never actually considered what God may want. I have almost said verbatim what James was saying about the person who was planning his own life. I need to really start relying on the Lord more instead of trying to plan out my own life and make it happen.

Lord, thank you for revealing this to me and for allowing me to see an issue that I didn't even know I had. Help me to seek you more and to come to you for everything. Thank you Lord. I love you.