1way:
I am happy to remain consistent and to deny that anything is contingent upon anything except upon God's sovereign will and authority. And I do admit that it is difficult to avoid being misunderstood because our language makes it nearly impossible.
James explains the difficulty.
James 4: 3 Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain:
14 Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
15 For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.
So, yes, our speech might be altered to reflect the Truth about God's rule and authority over us. But would it really help? Wouldn't some just say that an "if, then" when talking about God means that God is waiting on us to do one thing or another before He can act? You know they would. They do this even though they know it's nonsense. When you consider that God created the universe before any of us existed, then it is obvious that God doesn't need our help or consent before He can act.
Rather, the simple explanation why we might preface our intentions with "Lord willing" is that we are merely acknowledging the fact that we are obliged to wait upon God before we can do anything.
Christ told us: "Without me, you can do nothing."
He didn't say "You can do nothing good" Or "You can do only little". I believe that He meant we can do exactly nothing on our own, without God's agency.
