Read: James 4:13-17
A heartbreaking story on the cover of the newspaper had everyone talking. A groom was found dead hours after his wedding dinner. One of his friends said: “He was a very cheerful person and had just gotten married. Nobody could believe he was dead just hours after celebrating his wedding.”
Life is truly uncertain. Everyone is just a heartbeat away from eternity. First Chronicles 29:15 states: “Our days on earth are like a passing shadow, gone so soon without a trace.” It usually takes sad news, however, to drive home the reality of our frailty.
James 4:13 warns against speaking arrogantly about our future. We’re too limited to even understand what lies ahead, let alone take charge of it. We’re not the master of our own destiny, for we don’t even know what tomorrow will bring (James 4:14). We’re like a mist. Our lives are so short—here today, gone tomorrow.
How should we live in light of these truths? We should learn to embrace God’s plan for us (James 4:15) and do all the good we can (James 4:17).
We embrace God’s plan by acknowledging His sovereign rule over us. We say, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that” (James 4:15). We don’t make plans and then simply ask God to bless them. Instead, we should include God in every decision because He is over all of life.
Elisabeth Elliot observed, “God is God. Because He is God, He is worthy of my trust and obedience. I will find rest nowhere but in His holy will, a will that is unspeakably beyond my largest notions of what He is up to.”
Next, we should do the good we can. As God’s Word has instructed us in good works, we must be faithful in doing them. That makes for a God-honoring today and tomorrow.
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Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take (Proverbs 3:5-6).
What does your planning say about you? Are you self-confident or God-reliant? How do your plans acknowledge God’s plan?
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