Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. For you are just a vapor that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” James 4:13-15
Oh… how real this is to us (my wife and I) right now! We are in a MAJOR transition currently. This season of life we are currently in … is probably one of the most stressful times in life people encounter. The unknown, out of control, unsure, feelings greet us every morning … right now. We are moving from the only home we have ever ‘owned’ (I see it as the Lord’s home) across the entire country … to begin a new life officially as ‘retirees’. Everything is being considered – do we keep, give away, sell, donate, or throw away? Decades of life must be sorted through. What really is important? So much has to be prayed about. So many times during the day now I ask Him … “What should I do with … this?” “What do You Lord want me to do now?” Yes – I know this might sound a bit crazy – but it’s the way I am trying to keep focused on Him in this whole process. So much now seems so far out of my control. I know intellectually that I really have almost zero control of anything other than my own responses, which lately have not always been great. But I’m still trying to make ‘lists’ of ‘to do’ items – and then I submit each day’s tasks to Him – and seek His help and timing. I’m trying hard to remain in His peace… which means I continually to have to repent for my bad responses, and work to refocus on Him.
Even in the greatest scope of life – we don’t know what is coming our way … each day. And tomorrow? Only the Lord knows …what is in store for us. So… this little statement “If the Lord wills…” is VERY prevalent and glaring in my life right now.
How do you navigate BIG events in your life? How much do you ‘wait on the Lord’? Or do you just plunge ahead with what you know? I’m sure everyone has their own processes. My own history and wounds make me driven to try very hard NOT to make mistakes. Of course, I still do, and the enemies of God make sure I know it, over and over. I have to continually give all my failures to Him. How much grace does God extend to me? How much grace am I to extend to others? Ooof. I am FAR from the perfection of Jesus.
Father … YOU are in charge. Jesus … please help us! Holy Spirit … please show us the way. Give us clear direction. Make the path unmistakable YOU would have us to take! We want to be obedient to YOUR instructions!
2 thoughts on “If the Lord wills….”
Thanks for sharing
Further evidence of how much we need Him daily
…we walk (in my case crawl) parallel paths Brother Joe. Mine differs in that my reason for selling and moving is for medical reasons. Several times a day I ask “Lord ‘WILL’ you allow this condition to eventually paralyze me?”
We are in the early process of getting rid of 48 years of accumulations and the only home we have ever owned. Where our children grew up and their children blessed us. We have the additional task of trying to fit my 93 year old mother in law into our plans. She doesn’t want to leave the best home she has ever had, so my wife is fighting me every step of this path. I have no choice but to trust that God “Will” make a path where there seems to be no path. A physically painful path at that.
“JOY” awaits you at the end of your transition. I thank God for that.