“I’m going to the Bahamas.”
I have heard people all my life say, I’m going to go here; I’m going to go there; or I’m going to do this or that, not prefacing it with “if it is God’s will I will do such and such.” None of us knows what tomorrow holds. If we did we would be fortune tellers. Only God knows what tomorrow holds for He is who holds tomorrow.
James 4:13 states: Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow, we shall go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.”
V. 14: Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.
V. 15: Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we shall live and also do this or that.”
God controls the Universe. He knows what will happen every second, every minute, every hour of every day. He decides what we will do and what we won’t. We should never presume to be omniscient or all knowing as is God. We don’t know what kind of circumstance will come about to prevent us from doing what we desire to do. Every day there are tragedies that occur that are unexpected; every day there are accidents that occur which we do not foresee that prevents us from fulfilling our plans. Our plans are not God’s plans, therefore we should not make a statement that we will or will not do thus and so without first preceding it with, “If it be God’s will I will do etc., etc.”
I’m sure the people of New Orleans, LA had plans for the next day when Katrina hit and destroyed all their plans. I’m sure the people of 9/11 had plans for that day and the next and probably the next year. Then the terrorists took those plans away with their hideous plot to destroy the economy of the United States and willingly gave their lives to that end; in the process they destroyed the lives of over three thousand people. We might ask, “What kind of people would do such a thing?” or “What kind of God would allow such a tragedy as Katrina or 9/11?” It was the same kind of people who put Jesus on the cross and killed Him. It was the same God who in the old Testament of the Bible destroyed many thousands of people because they refused to obey His commands. He gave them chance after chance to repent and follow Him and obey Him. He is a loving, merciful God. However, since He is our Creator He knows what is best for us and if we choose to disobey Him we must suffer the consequences. He says He will never leave us or forsake us, but when we willingly choose to be rebellious, He allows the consequential events that could and usually do change our lives. Just as we teach our children there are consequences to their actions, God teaches us there are consequences to our actions. For example, if our children run out in the street in front of an oncoming car, they are sure to be hit and injured by that vehicle. When we choose to engage in sinful behavior such as sexual sin; violent behavior such as taking a human life; when we decide to indulge in the act of taking illegal drugs; overindulgence in alcoholic beverages; when we engage in any illegal act, we must suffer the consequences. Those consequences may result in the surrender of our own lives. Even in the act, some would say is innocent, of smoking cigarettes, we suffer the consequences of losing our health and endangering the lives of countless others. If we choose to disregard the known fact that AIDS and other STDS are contracted by engaging in immoral sexual acts; adulterous acts of engaging in sex with someone other than our spouses, we must suffer the consequences. When we choose to engage in adulterous affairs, we not only suffer the consequences of potentially contracting disease, but spreading it to our spouse.
Yes, we are free to do as we please as long as it does not hurt another human being and is not a sin against God. We are free to do as we please as long as it does not hurt ourselves or others. But we must suffer the consequences if we choose an act that puts us or anyone else in harms way or puts our life or health in jeopardy. We cannot blame God if we have been rebellious against His laws or commands.
It is not God’s will that any should perish. But He has given us the rules to live by and if we choose not to abide by those rules, how can we blame Him?
In conclusion, whatever we do, we should do according to God’s will and to His glory. We will never get into trouble by abiding by God’s Holy Word and His commands.
By Nell Berry 2/7/07
Nell is a wife of 56 years to the same man, mother of his four children, grandmother of nine and great grandmother of two precious baby girls and another baby on the way. Formerly of Missouri she now resides in Alabama, urged by their youngest son to join him and his ministry with Heartcry Missionary Society, they moved to Alabama in December of 2006. They are now members of the First Baptist Church of Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Her interests are writing song lyrics/poems, short stories, sewing, crocheting, cooking for her family on special occasions and living for the Lord.