Are you certain about tomorrow: who holds your tomorrow? Part 1

On the cusp of embracing the New Year, I had called a family meeting prior and set-out to discuss our respective goals and objectives. We all spoke at length about the things we wanted to achieve, cities we wanted to visit, schools we wanted to attend, setting a timeline to completing my doctorate, etc. As we were listening to and asking questions for clarity on some of our objectives; I sensed a strong nudge and a particular thought and scripture rose up in me; hear what the Biblical verse says, ¹³ Come now [and pay attention to this], you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and carry on our business and make a profit.” ¹⁵ Yet you do not know [the least thing] about what may happen in your life tomorrow. [What is secure in your life?] You are merely a vapor [like a puff of smoke or a wisp of steam from a cooking pot] that is visible for a little while and then vanishes [into thin air]. ¹⁵ Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and we will do this or that.” ¹⁶ But as it is, you boast [vainly] in your pretension and arrogance. All such boasting is evil. ¹⁷ So any person who knows what is right to do but does not do it, to him it is sin. Read James 4:13-17 (AMP).

Listen to what the New Living Translation commentary says about the above verse, “It is good to have goals, but goals can disappoint us if we leave God out of them. There is no point in making plans as though God does not exist because the future is in His hands. The beginning of a good plan is to ask the Lord; and it is within His right to rearrange our plans without notice, therefore, we should hold our plans loosely. If we put God’s desires at the centre of our planning, He will never disappoint us. Hence the importance of Matthew 6:33 (NASB) which says, “But seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” We must seek God’s will first and foremost above all else, His will is the most important assignment and achievement you and I need to pursue. The Bible says, “Hour by hour I place my days in your hand.” Read Psalm 31:15 (MSG).

I did some word search to better help us understand the text, and strong’s exhaustive concordance defines tomorrow as BREEZE or AIR. Think with me for a moment, tomorrow is like a breeze or air which dissipates or disappear. Now, since this is what the Bible is saying, this should be a wakeup call, because we have no assurance of tomorrow outside God, Selah. The Bible says, “So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Read Matthew 6:34 (NASB). Beloved, the only reason you and I will worry about tomorrow is because we have made up our minds not to involve God in planning our lives, we walk around with pride and arrogance thinking we own and can determine the way of our life, instead of allowing God the wheel of our lives.

So here is the obvious question for us after reading the verse in James 4, where do we get our assurances for tomorrow from? How do we embrace the warnings of James 4, and yield to God’s counsel? I am happy you asked, because I also need to know what to do; as this is a serious consideration for 2018 and beyond, therefore, look out for the Biblical response in the next post.

Sharing with you one of my precious Bible verse “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek, inquire for, and [insistently] require: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord [in His presence] all the days of my life, to behold and gaze upon the beauty [the sweet attractiveness and the delightful loveliness] of the Lord and to meditate, consider, and inquire in His temple. Read Psalm 27:4 (AMP). This is my life long desire.

Happy New Year again to my esteemed readers all over the globe. I am glad to be part of your journey in Christ.

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