Your life is like the morning fog
Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone.
James 4:13-14 NLT
We are constantly encouraged to plan for the future. Whether we are looking at our family, our housing, our holidays or our pensions we are under continual pressure to make good plans. I don’t think that James is telling his readers not to do any planning, but he does want to prick the bubble of their arrogance. They thought that their life was their possession and that they could do what they liked with it. Not so, says James. The first consideration should be to discover God’s will.
This means that when we do our planning we should do it when we are on our knees in prayer. We should reflect that our lives are a gift from God and that our families, education, talents and possessions are all part of his gracious generosity to us. In prayer we need to seek his will for the future and so as we make our plans we need to hold them in humility before him.
Seeking to know God’s will is our prime task in life, because God’s will is, by definition, the best possible future for us. God loves us perfectly and knows us much better than we know ourselves so discovering his will is as good as life can get. In my late teens I remember struggling with that. It seemed obvious to me that I needed to make some excellent plans for my life and then seek God’s blessing on what I had decided to do. It was a real struggle giving up my personal plans for life – but I’m so glad that I did. God understood me so much better than I did … and still does.
QUESTION
Which of your life plans do you need to commit afresh to God today?
PRAYER
Thank you Lord that you love us so much that you always want the best for us. Help me to seek your will first of all in all that I do today. Amen.
Photo – Magheragall Parish Church, near Lsburn
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