“Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’” – James 4:15
We’ve all been vividly reminded of how little control we actually have over the world and even over our lives! There is actually wonderful blessing in this. It’s so easy, as followers of Jesus, to accidentally live lives that are virtually indistinguishable from those of atheists. We make our plans, pursue our dreams, and build our empires, as if we were in complete control. If we pray about them at all, our prayers mainly ask God to bless whatever we’ve already decided to do.
2020 has been a clear reminder that God is in charge. He’s the leader. We’re the followers. Nothing about this year has taken Him by surprise. He’s filled this year with Kingdom opportunities to serve and glorify Him if we’re willing to make His plans and priorities more important than ours. Thus, we’re slowly being forced to learn to begin our grand plans with, “If the Lord wills…”
This is a great first step toward really submitting our plans, dreams, and goals to those of God and to really living a life of adventure that follows God rather than running ahead of Him. We’re learning, painfully, to be more flexible and sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. We’re learning to hold onto our plans loosely and our Lord tightly. We’re learning not to take many things for granted, but instead to treasure our God Who is our ever present help. What a wonderful and unexpected blessing of a year like no other!