By David ReayTuesday 27 Dec 2022LifeWords DevotionalsDevotionsReading Time: 2 minutes
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. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” Otherwise, you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil. (NLT)
It is only right and natural that we make plans. We have commitments to keep, chaotic disorganisation is not a virtue. What our text is getting at is not that planning itself is wrong. But all our plans are essentially provisional. They are subject to change. Not random change, but a belief that we have a God who is able and willing to step in and take us in a new direction.
The text focusses on those who arrogantly seek to enrich themselves without thought of God. The world is full of people who reckon they are in control. They think they can order around other people and external circumstances to suit their plans. Humility before God calls us to reject this egocentric approach to life. So as a result, we make our plans but accept the possibility of surprising changes to those plans.
Such surprises may disappoint us, may shatter our dreams. Then again, they may lead to new paths towards a brighter future. Whatever the case, we are to have enough trust in the wisdom and love of God to leave him free to weave the pattern of our days.
Blessings
David