June 30, 2019 -- James 4:13-15 -- What will tomorrow bring?

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”—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. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.”

James 4:13-15 ESV

This week Carolyn and I experienced a very clear demonstration of this text—and were once again made particularly aware of this “If the Lord wills, we will live”. We had experienced some difficulty with our car. For a day or two (know that June 24 to June 26 we drove from Ingersoll, Ontario, through Toronto, Montreal and on to Moncton, over 1,600km) we’d experienced a bit of roughness and weird jimmying when we drove. It would start and suddenly stop. In order to get a New Brunswick licence plate and driver’s licence, you need to get a safety check-up and sticker for your vehicle.

We arrived in Moncton. Two days later, just as Carolyn was about to drive the car back from the grocery store parking lot, the morning of our car appointment, she noted the driver’s rear tire was slightly soft. By the time we arrived at the KIA dealer it was very low. In fact, the mechanic doing the safety pulled a two inch screw from the tire! He exclaimed “The tire pressure, when I had it on the hoist, was 4 psi—and the manufacturer’s recommended psi is 34!” He went on to say he was amazed the tire didn’t roll off the rim and bring much more ruin and devastation. Or that the tire didn’t blow somewhere along the way.

We were protected. The mechanic kept the screw and showed us the wear on the head of the screw. Where and how it had been damaged and nicked as it protruded from the tire—he suggested it had been in the tire for a while! How sobering.

“If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” Indeed it is so true. The Lord willed for us to be safe here in Moncton. By the same token we could have faced a blown tire and the loss of our lives. We were reminded to live our lives aware that we (all of us) are one breath and one heartbeat away from eternity.

Our lives are not our own, we were made in the image of God and our hearts and minds long to worship. We will worship Jesus Christ, the One Who takes away our sin, and by the testimony of the Spirit in the Bible brings us to know God as our Father in heaven. Or, we will worship things, lies, money, ourselves, anything but the Majestic Sovereign of Heaven and Earth. Such as these will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven. When the Lord wills it, we will all face the moment of death. Now is the day to turn to Jesus and find in Him the soul’s reward—joy in the knowledge of our Creator, King and Comforter.

Today is Sunday, get to a bible-believing church. Get spiritually fit and prepared for the day that inevitably will come: the day when you will meet the Lord.

Spirit of Truth—help us to put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness and wonder the Word of God—the Bible—so that we will know Jesus Christ and the power of His salvation. Help us to be hearers of the Word, moment by moment aware of the fact that our lives are lived in Your presence, Great God of Wonder. Your glorious existence is not dependent on whether or not we believe in You—You are, forever past, forever more, God Who rules all You have created. To you, all flesh will give an account. Spirit of Truth, help us who believe in Jesus to grow in our joyful trust in Him; help those who are far from Him to open their eyes and see the Shepherd of their soul standing near, ready to lift them from death to life. Thank You, great and glorious God for the preachers and evangelists, ministers and missionaries who are declaring Your word today. Praise and honour, glory and dominion, power and majesty belong to You, Triune God, now and forever more. Amen.