This time last year did anyone think Obama would most likely be the president of the United States (Hillary didn’t!)? Six weeks ago did anyone know the world’s financial condition would be what it is now? On 9/10/2001 did anyone think three planes would be used by terrorists as they were?
James was right when he wrote…
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.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. (James 4:13-16)
We all walk through life with a red tipped cane. We may like to say what we’ll do tomorrow, but there is no way to know whether or not our plans will come to fruition. We are clueless about what will happen from one week to the next much less next year or the next moment!
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5)
When you were 18 did you foresee then what your life is now? Did you have any inkling about what has happened in your life? Have any events transpired that blindsided you? My answers to those questions are… No, No, Yes.
I had no clue at 18 I would marry a girl from Bessemer… get a degree from Samford in Accounting… be called to preach… move to New Orelans for seminary… pastor a church in rural Mississippi… then move to Montgomery… then Oxford… then Muscle Shoals… then be the interim pastor for a church in Moulton… and along the way have three children and get a post-graduate degree. After all that I now know that I’m clueless about tomorrow (And so are you). But the future does excite me!
What is your story? Look back in your life and note bends in the road you didn’t expect. Consider the things that happened which redirected your life in ways that surprised you. Observe with discernment what you thought was a chance encounter that resulted in a spouse… a job… a lifelong friend… and then thank God for His loving hand of providence!
We may not know what the future holds, but we do know who holds it in His hand… GOD.