so about tomorrow...

Last night a group of nine ETAs met for Bible study. This week has been emotionally up and down for me and God provided the perfect discussion:

¹³Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." ¹⁴Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. ¹⁵Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." ¹⁶As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. ¹⁷Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins.

                                                   ~James 4.13-17

I might be able to win a gold medal for professional planning. I like to have my to-do list for the day, week, and month, all corresponding with a five-year plan. (So maybe I am not that far ahead all the time-but I want to be!) In having a plan, I gain a sense of control of what is going on around me. Coming to Korea, my desire to plan has only intensified. I want to know who is doing what at all times. But where does God fit into all this? James does not call us to live our lives this way. The phrase that stands out the most to me is verse fifteen. "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that" (emphasis mine). When everything else is boiled away, it is only by God's grace and design that I am even breathing. Talk about perspective. I can create as many plans as I wish, but it is only through God that anything will happen.

Verse seventeen presents an intriguing twist to the passage. All along, James appears to discourage making plans for actions. This could lead to a very passive lifestyle. "I will just sit back and wait until God opens up a door I could drive a semi through". We are not given that luxury. I think that we are to pursue what is right and good and act on that knowledge. In the discussion, someone stated, "The Lord's will is sovereign; he always reveals his will when the timing is right".

A final nugget of truth that I gleaned from this passage ties back to trust in the Lord. We do not know what will happen tomorrow, but the God does.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding but in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will keep your path straight

                                      ~Proverbs 3.5,6

Once again, Christian truth comes from understanding the tension between not over-planning but trusting God and being proactive in seeking his will and direction for daily living.