James 4:13-17 (HCSB)
13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will travel to such and such a city and spend a year there and do business and make a profit.”
14 You don’t even know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are a bit of smoke that appears for a little while, then vanishes.
15 Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
16 But as it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.
17 So, for the person who knows to do good and doesn’t do it, it is a sin.
This is an important and significant portion of Scripture. James is speaking to something which every person has in common. We begin our days with the things we are going to do.
We begin each day in God’s Word. I have spoken of this before and I again encourage each of you, if you are not, to begin a program that will guide you through the Bible.
Elaine and I, since I retired from full time ministry, share a calendar. It is pretty simple, we are together most of the time. It helps her and me to know what the other has scheduled on any particular day. The only time it can get a little awkward is if we only put “Dr’s Appointment “. One time early into my retirement I fasted for her doctor’s appointment. So now we also put on the calendar who the Dr’s appointment is for.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 KJV says that-
1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:
We have a hard time going through life with all of the things that can and do happen every day. As you read further into the verse that follows in Ecclesiastes 3, it becomes very clear there are a lot of moving parts to this life.
When we are young we have a whole life ahead of us. Nothing seems impossible. As we grow older there becomes a greater need to focus and prepare for what is coming. Then as we grow even older it becomes a matter of enjoying what we have worked so hard to achieve.
Certainly there many things that can and do happen along the road of life. Everyone faces different issues and the reality for one may or not be that for another. We want to make sense of it but we can’t. This is where trusting God comes into play.
Last week we spoke about Job. If you missed that post then be sure to go back after you finish today’s post and read it. His story is prolific in Scripture and teaches us great truths.
Like others in Scripture we can learn much about how man reacts and handles life. They become examples to us as to how we handle the challenges and issues of life. I said in last Sundays message that yesterday is history, tomorrow is a hope and we only have today, which is now. That is our life.
How did James say it?
14 You don’t even know what tomorrow will bring—what your life will be! For you are a bit of smoke that appears for a little while, then vanishes.
Although we are here for what may seem like a long time, life is but a vapor. James makes it clear that the best way forward for us is to seek God’s will.
15 Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”
The will of God is what He wants, not what I want. His will accomplishes everything He wants to accomplish. We don’t understand and therefore find it difficult to accept what He is doing and allowing in our lives. In Isaiah 55:8-10 KJV are God’s words-
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
10 For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
So we learn to accept God’s will and strive to honor and acknowledge Him in our lives. I know I am going through something right now. I wish I wasn’t but I know God has got it and my trust is in Him.
In God’s Grace,
Elbert Nasworthy
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