I don’t know!

Wise people often say, “I don’t know”

Reflection on James 4:13-15

Dear friends, the Coronavirus crisis presents us with an opportunity to grow in Christ – for our faith to strengthen and for us to become less worldly. “Real spiritual growth”, as the Evangelical Anglican theologian, J.I. Packers puts it, “is always growth downward, so to speak, into profounder humility." One of the ways the Lord is humbling us during this Coronavirus trial is by giving us a humbler attitude about the future.

In James 4:13, the arrogant, worldly man says in his heart, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade a make a profit.” Oh really? Is that so? The truth is that “you do not know what tomorrow will bring” (James 4:14a) as the Coronavirus has reminded us. Rather than proudly resisting this (now painfully obvious) truth, the wise, growing Christian will embrace it.

Of course, the God of the Bible is not against us making plans. We should make plans. But God opposes the proud attitude that assumes the future is in my little hands. We're really just "a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes." -- James 4:14b

So will you take this opportunity to grow downward? To humble yourself before the Lord and confess that, when it comes to the future, “I don’t know” but I know Him who holds it in His hands.

Yours in Christ,

Jeremiah

Campus Director, Edgewood