TODAY’S DEVOTION (TUESDAY 3RD October 2023)
Pay attention to this! You’re saying, “Today or tomorrow we will go into some city, stay there a year, conduct business, and make money.” You don’t know what will happen tomorrow. What is life? You are a mist that is seen for a moment and then disappears.
Instead, you should say, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and carry out our plans.” However, you brag because you’re arrogant. All such bragging is evil. James 4:13-16 GWT
WELCOME TO THE 276TH DAY OF OUR YEAR OF SIGNS AND WONDERS
The LORD our God is mighty! He has proven to be all that to us each second of this year. We give Him the glory for all His goodness in our lives. Day unto day He has been showing us mercies and demonstrating His marvelous love in our lives.
I make bold to say, if you want to see how merciful, loving, and forgiving our GOD is, look at us. If you want to see how kind, compassionate, and tender He is, look at us. He has made us trophies of His grace, His mercy, and His glory. Who is like unto our God, glorious in Holiness, fearful in praises? Doing wonders, hallelujah!
Today we want to look at one of many reasons, why the human life needs the word of the LORD to survive, on this side of eternity, called time.
We want to look at the fragility of the human life. Yesterday the LORD spoke to us about securing His backing before doing anything. One of the major reasons for that is because of how fragile our lives are, and how sudden we can be destroyed if God’s manifest presence is not there.
The human life is one of the most fragile lives on the face of the earth. But in the beginning, it was not so. We became fragile when we stepped out of the very environment God created the human life to live and be preserved in – the environment of His glory.
That is why, if you want to do anything in life, you must first get God’s backing so that His presence can preserve your life all through. Do not forget, both success and failure have enemies because either you are failing in life or succeeding in life, there will be men and devils who will not want you alive. So, you need God’s backing before embarking on anything.
THE HUMAN LIFE IS TOO FRAGILE NOT TO BE BACKED BY GOD!
Without God, we will just disappear like vapors and vanish away. Without doing things in His will and ways, we will just disappear and vanish away like vapors. So many people have disappeared that way in their prime. So many have just vanished away and are in their graves today.
Do not allow anyone to convince you to live your life in your strength. Do not allow your fortune or misfortune, to make you live your life without God. You are too fragile to live your life without the backing of the LORD, no matter how confident you feel about life.
Our lives are too fragile to be lived in our own ways! Boasting in our own strength, and making our own plans, instead of walking in His plans, will reduce our lives into vapors that appear and vanish within a short period of time. That is why our devotional text says;
“Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit”;
whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.
Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.” But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. James 4:13-16 NKJV
It is arrogance in the sight of God to live your life in your own strength, ways, and will. You cannot live your life in your own strength, ways and will, and expect it not to be like a vapor that appears and vanishes after a short period of time. It is arrogance to make plans outside God’s will or plans for your life.
If you understand how fragile your life is, you will stop such arrogance. You will begin to put God at the center of all your plans, or fold up your plans, and walk in His plans for your life. If you do not stop such arrogance, things will keep happening to you, that even prayers cannot solve, except prayers of repentance.
Friend, there is nothing wrong with making plans for your life, but you must make them within God’s ultimate plan for your life. He said in His word.
“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” Jeremiah 29:11 NKJV
Come to think of it, how will we have this scripture in our Bibles, and still choose to make our live vulnerable by making and walking in our own plans? How can the eternal God say He has plans for us, and we choose to ignore His plans and decide to walk in plans made by our finite minds, weak lives, and sometimes wicked hearts? That is why our peace, prosperities, and life progress, keeps appearing and vanishing away like vapors.
UNDERSTAND THAT GOD HAS FREED US FROM MAKING OUR OWN PLANS.
He has plans for us! Until we begin to live within them, our lives and the successes we achieve, will keep being like vapors that appear and vanish within a short period of time. For instance, our marriages will be like vapors that appear and vanish within a short period of time. People will get married today and walk away from it tomorrow. People will wed today and kill the marriage by tomorrow.
People will get great economic fortunes today, and by tomorrow, it becomes like a vapor that appear and vanish within a short time. They will sit with kings today and become paupers tomorrow. They will get life changing jobs today, and loose them after a short period of time.
They will get great life opportunities today, and loose them by tomorrow. They will become spiritual giants today, and slaves tomorrow. Their success and achievements in life will just be like vapors that appear and vanish within a short period of time. That is not the will of God.
One of the major mishaps of life, that proves the fragility of the human life, is death; or the tendency and process of coming to an end. That never existed before the fall of man. We can stop good things from coming to an end in our lives, by living in God’s will, ways and plans for our lives.
Another rendering of our devotional text says;
And now I have a word for you who brashly announce, “Today—at the latest, tomorrow—we’re off to such and such a city for the year. We’re going to start a business and make a lot of money.”
You don’t know the first thing about tomorrow. You’re nothing but a wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing. Instead, make it a habit to say, “If the Master wills it and we’re still alive, we’ll do this or that.”
As it is, you are full of your grandiose selves. All such vaunting self-importance is evil. In fact, if you know the right thing to do and don’t do it, that, for you, is evil. James 4:13-17 The Message
THIS RENDERING TELLS US THAT, ANY SUCCESS OUTSIDE GOD’S WILL AND WAY, IS LIKE A WISP OF FOG CATCHING A BRIEF BIT OF THE SUN.
It will soon disappear and go away. Sadly, the feeling of self-importance is what place people on that path. Self-importance is an exaggerated sense of one’s own value or importance. It is a feeling that makes you overstate how important you are; maybe to your boss, your wife, your husband, your pastor, or your members if you are a pastor.
The feeling that makes us exaggerate our value of importance is very destructive. It will not help us humble ourselves to seek God’s will before we do things. It is great to have a good sense of self-esteem. Self-esteem is very important in life, but please, do not slip into self-importance because you want to have a good sense of self-esteem. It will ruin you! So many have lost great jobs, marriages, opportunities, and etc. because of self-importance.
They began to feel too important to their bosses, spouses, and opportunity creators and became arrogant, hence losing out.As we bring this to a close, I want us to understand that, God does not want the success or prosperity of any part of our lives to be appearing and vanishing within a short period of time. We see that in how He created us. He created us to live forever, but not in this fallen state.
This fallen state will go away in the age to come and we will go back to how we were created to be. But this time, it will be more glorious than what it was before Adam fell. However, while we wait for that age, we must live life on this side of eternity to its fullness.
We must not live lives that are like wisp of fogs taking a brief bit of the sun, before disappearing. Our jobs must endure, our marriages must succeed for a lifetime, our kids successfully in Christ and in life, our peace and prosperity must endure for generations. The secret to all that, is life within the confines of God’s will and ways!
I BELIEVE THE MESSAGE OF TODAY HAS BEEN PASSED.
It’s my prayer that we manage our ways according to divine will, so that we will not be appearing and disappearing like vapors. It is worth repeating that we manage our ways by living our lives within God’s plans for them.
One major plan of God for our lives, is that we spend our days fearing Him, and departing from iniquity. That is one plan that all the Bible heroes and heroines discovered and spent their days walking in. It exposed them to other plans of God for their lives.
If you want to walk in God’s plans for your life, that is where to begin. Once that is achieved, every other thing will fall into place.
LET THIS SCRIPTURE BE AN ADDITIONAL MEDITATION FOR YOU TODAY
“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil.” Ecclesiastes 12:13-14