Are you certain about tomorrow: who holds your tomorrow? Part 2

As Christians one of the dangers you and I might face is the danger of relying on our own plans, and our ability to fulfil those plans. The Bible says, “I know, Oh Lord, that the way of man is not in himself that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.” Read Jeremiah 10:23 (ESV). Clearly we can see from this verse of scripture telling us that, we do not have the capacity to direct our lives; it is virtually impossible to do. Let us recall our base scripture which says, ¹³ Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— ¹⁴ yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Read James 4:13-14 (ESV).

I make this statement carefully when I say you and I do not have exclusive right to boast about tomorrow; because we do not have any inclination about what tomorrow holds. God alone holds the future and our lives are in His hands. I want to share a personal story with the passing of my father. Growing up at home with my siblings, I was of the view my dad was going to live for a very long time, and in my naivety I saw him as strong and hardworking and would be with us for a long time; where he would enjoy his children and grand children. But the inevitable happened, my dad went on to be with the Lord at the age of 60. I was devastated, numb and stunned that my dad whom I thought would be with us, and enjoy the fruit of his labor was no longer with us, he was gone and never to return in the flesh. My human perspective was so flawed because I was trying to determine the tomorrow of my fathers existence by saying, “My dad was too strong for any sickness to keep him down and let alone to take him away from us at such an early age.

Watch this, the unexpected happens in life, and we are never ever prepared for what will come, nothing prepares us for the sudden turn of events. I sort of felt I had a right of entitlement, hence I tried to determine tomorrow concerning my dad. Events all over the world can point us to the fact that we don’t have control of tomorrow, it is not within our capability to do. Let us look at some events that happened in peoples tomorrows.

• The 7 July 2005 London bombings, often referred to as 7/7, were a series of co-ordinated terrorist suicide attacks in London, United Kingdom, which targeted civilians travelling on the city’s public transport system during the morning rush hour. Those who were caught in that event must have determined thus; they would wake up, have a shower, breakfast, say bye to loved ones, buy the newspaper, board a bus to the train station, arrive at the platform, and board their train, then all of a sudden, LIGHTS OUT. Nothing could have ever prepared them for the suddenness and turn of events, hence we must live our lives daily for the Lord, because you do not know what tomorrow holds.

• The September 11 attacks (also referred to as 9/11) were a series of four co-ordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda on the United States on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001. The attacks killed 2,996 people, injured over 6,000 others, and caused at least $10 billion in infrastructure and property damage. Nothing ever prepared those caught in the attack that day, and as far as they were concerned, they would do business as usual, but it was not meant to be.

• The United States (U.S.) subprime mortgage crisis was a nationwide banking emergency, occurring between 2007-2010, which contributed to the U.S. recession of December 2007 – June 2009. No one ever expected a mortgage catastrophe, and as far as everyone was concerned, we would conduct business as same old same old, yet the subprime mortgage crisis ushered in such chaos in the financial market which reverberated across the globe. Please listen to me, intelligence is not found in man, it is only found in God who gives to everyone who asks.

• Myles Munroe, OBE (April 1954 – November 2014) was a Bahamian evangelist and ordained minister, author, speaker and leadership consultant. Munroe died with his wife and 8 others in a private plane crash on 9 November 2014 en route to his leadership conference. I am sure, the leadership conference must have been planned well ahead, and would have been penned in his itinerary that he was going to be speaking on such and such a day, but LIGHTS OUT.

• How can we forget Job? In one day the Bible says Job lost everything. Read Job 1:1-22 (NKJV). An aspect of this verse is critical to our understanding the text. Job was a righteous  man who feared God and shunned evil, yet in the midst of Job’s resume, he did not have control of his tomorrow, neither could he stop the events of his tomorrow from happening, Selah. Are you seeing this? This is mega big!

Beloved, these are prominent ones we know of, how about events in your life? Have you been thrown off balance and off course? Have you had events occur in your life you never expected? Well, I can resoundingly say yes of course. But the Bible says, “God is our refuge and strength [mighty and impenetrable], a very present and well-proved help in trouble. ²Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change. And though the mountains be shaken and slip into the heart of the seas, ³ Though its waters roar and foam, though the mountains tremble at its roaring. Selah. ⁴ There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy dwelling places of the Most High.” Read Psalm 46: 1-4 (AMP).

Tomorrow (here I go again), we would look at some key practical steps from our base text to help us relinquish our tomorrows into the hand of the creator of the heavens and the earth, the one who holds the keys to our lives.

We write. You read. Be encouraged.