13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”; 14 whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” (James 4:13–15, NKJV)
Two prevailing realities of life compel us to depend upon God and to respect His will. First, life is uncertain. To paraphrase Scottish poet Robert Burns, the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray. The uncertainty of life shows the wisdom of remembering God and His will in all we do. Without Him we are left rudderless on the restless, stormy sea of life. Second, life is brief. We are here a very brief time, then like the vapor rising from the tea kettle, our life on earth is done. The brevity of life forces us to come face to face with our own mortality, and our need for guidance to a better shore. The Lord’s will, spoken in His Scriptures, assures us of spiritual life in Christ, and of eternal life when this life fades away (Jno. 10:27-28; 11:25-26; 1 Jno. 5:11-13). Put the Lord’s will first in your life. Then, come what may, life in the Son will be certain and never-ending.
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