If the Lord Will

“Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: 

Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. 

For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.” James 4:13-15

Have any of you watched the movie “Its a Wonderful Life”? If you have you probably remember when George Bailey was a young man he had his sights set on traveling the world. He wanted to build skyscrapers a hundred stories high, and bridges a mile long. But later in the movie, things didn’t go the way he had planned when he was younger. Right after high school he was planning to go on a tour of the great buildings and monuments around the world. But his dad had a stroke and died, and in order to keep his dad’s business from being dissolved by the board members and going to “Mr. Potter”, he had to postpone his trip and work at the “building and loan.”

Instead of doing what he said that he was going to do, his life took a completely different turn to one that he never thought that he would do. His life did not turn out the way he imagined.

That is what James was writing about. We don’t know what is going to happen in our life. God is in control, not us. Everything that happens happens according to the Lord’s will. We might not understand why something happens, but He does.

Because we do not know which day will be our last, or how long we are going to live, we need to put our faith and trust in the Lord. If the Lord will, we will live a long life. If it is His will, we will be blessed with food or finances. It is all according to His will. 

Jesus spoke this parable about a man who thought that he knew what he was going to do, but as you will read things went different than he thought they would.

“And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully:

And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? 

And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. 

And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. 

But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?” Luke 12:16-20

This man had a great year of crops and decided that he would store them all up for himself and take it easy. But what he didn’t know is that he was going to die that night. 

God has a purpose for everything He does. Whatever we do in life, we need to remember that everything happens according to the Lord’s will. 

Lord willing, I will write another study for you all tomorrow.

In Christ,

Andrew