Nov. 8 The Future is a Mystery

November 8 - The Future is a Mystery

Proverbs 27:1, "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth."

Wow, no kidding! Do you know that there used to be a period of time that I dreaded extremely spiritual weekends? If I knew that I was having a prayer retreat coming up and it was going to be amazing, I was terrified! Not because of the weekend, but because of Monday. Every single Monday following a spiritual high - something awful would hit me. I never knew what direction it would come from, but I knew it was coming.

Matthew 24:43, "But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into."

Now, Jesus is talking through this passage about the end of the world and how we need to be prepared because we can't know when it will occur. If I were to take this verse alone, I might get pretty worked up over everything.

Several years ago, some kids (we assume) broke into the house. The smashed the glass window on our back door, unlocked the house and went through taking what they wanted. It was just stuff, but it was an awful feeling. There was nothing more we could have done to avoid the theft. It took a long time, though to get past the fear of it happening again.

And this takes me to another passage in Matthew, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself." (Matthew 6:34)

It took about a month for me to relax about the house being broken into, I still worry about extreme spiritual highs, knowing that just around the corner there might be a terrible low. But, that's because the only place I put my faith is in myself. The proper response for me is "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things (the things we worry about) will be given to you as well." (Matthew 6:33)

"Now, listen you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.' Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord's will, we will and do this or that.' As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins." (James 4:13-17)

That passage actually goes against everything we actually believe about life. There's not a one of us out there that really trusts the Lord to tell us what His will is. We don't actually trust that we will know and understand what His will is when He tells us. And we have people around us that continually insist that they know better than we do what God's will is for our lives.

Boasting and bragging - thinking that we know better than God. James says it is evil. What do you say?