Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” 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. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.”
James 4:13-15
April 12, 2018
Two Words
As I was finishing my doctorate degree, one of my professors would often use the words, “Lord willing” as he would finish a sentence. For instance, he would say things like, “Next year we will back in this room finishing our cohort, Lord willing.” Or he would say, “Tonight I will meet you for dinner at 6:00, Lord willing.” The more frequently he used the words, “Lord willing” the more I wanted to say, “We get it…You are trusting the Lord; but you don’t have to say that all the time.”
Recently I was reflecting on those words and realizing just how important they are for all of us. You see, on February 4, I preached a vision message about the new direction our church would be taking in April. I reminded our church how I preferred preaching from a specific passage from God’s Word, but not to worry, I would be back the following weekend preaching from 1 Corinthians 10. It never happened.
That week I went to visit a doctor, who discovered a mass on my vocal cords that required surgery and provided me with a forced sabbatical. Immediately following surgery, I was given 21 days of total silence to heal (You heard me say TOTAL silence, right? – not even a cough or a whisper!). Then as I began to heal, I ended up back in the hospital for an unexpected back spasm, where I was unable to move. I was also facing some other unexpected health challenges. Every time I thought I knew what would come next, some new challenge would appear.
It wasn’t until this past Sunday on April 8 that I was able to share the words, “Open up your Bible to 1 Corinthians 10.” Although it was nine weeks later than I was expecting to say those words, I have learned that God was not surprised at all. So now as I approach each day, there are two words I have begun to use that are very meaningful to me. Those words are “Lord willing.”
Being a person who likes to chart a course and pursue a direction, I have learned in a new and applicable way that God is the one who is working all things out for His good. Perhaps these two words may be helpful in your journey as you continue to trust the Lord Jesus Christ.
