Have you ever had your best plans just fall apart?
“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.”
JAMES 4:13-14 ESV
James speaks of a group of people who set out making plans. They are going about their lives and planning out their future. Their plans are to go into a city, spend some time there, and make a profit for themselves. There is nothing wrong with earning an income or a profit, even making plans for the future.
For these people, their problem was not their planning or even making a profit. Their issue was that they had put their trust and their confidence in themselves and in their plans. David says in (Ps. 37:5) “Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.”
How often do we set out on making our plans without considering the Lord and His purposes? It can be easy to do. Our lives become busy, rushed, full of things we must get done. In the busyness of life, we can rush off in our day or even in our plans without considering the Lord. We can find ourselves in motion, planning without thinking much about it.
James reminds us of how uncertain our future is. Our life is a mist that quickly passes. This is true, is it not? Even in our best plans, things often come up that are unexpected. Our lives are full of surprises. Our trust, our confidence, and our plans are to be in the Lord. Life is quick. It is short. It is, as James says, a “vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” Our dependence is to be in Christ--our plans made according to His purposes.
Commit your way to the Lord each day. We cannot let life become so busy that we forget our purpose. Trust in Him. Our confidence, our boast should be in Christ, not ourselves.
Blessings!
Steve
English Standard Version (ESV) The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.