I think it was Ressie Freitag who used to be a member at our church. She's died, I think, well over a decade ago, but I used it at her funeral to make the point from this text on the transitoriness of life, that life is so short, it's so brief, it's uncertain. And it demands of us that we live very carefully our lives under the providential care and goodness of our God. So turn with me in our text of scripture to the book of James, chapter 4, verses 13 through 17. I'll read through the text. May God edify us as we listen to the Word of the Lord. It's important that the Word of the Lord be publicly read audibly so people can hear it. There's something about hearing the Word of God, hearing the report, And I recommend even in your devotions that sometimes instead of silently reading, to read the Word of God out loud to yourself and meditate on it that way. Follow along, verses 13 and following. Come now, you who say, today or tomorrow, we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit. whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, if the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. Therefore, to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. May God use his word now to fill our hearts, edify our minds, and strengthen us in the holy faith. which was once delivered to the saints. For indeed this is the word of the Lord as given through our brothers, our Lord's brother James to the church in its infant years on this planet, speaking primarily to Jews. Join me in prayer. Father we ask your blessing upon this holy word sometimes my imagination goes to the assembly when this epistle was delivered to the saints and they read it out loud in the synagogue in the assembly and the impact that it made in its initial reading and then subsequently as it was read again and meditated on, how it impacted the people of God. I can only imagine that some were stirred by it. Others were glad for this word, especially those experiencing various and sundry trials, but those especially under persecution. And how now they could respond to those things by counting it all joy, and enduring temptation, knowing that they'll receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. And then addressing other subjects in this, about showing partiality, about control of the tongue, about wisdom that comes from above, about humility, and all these factors that contribute to what Christian living is all about. that You might be glorified in our actions, in our thoughts, and in our deeds. Bless us now in these moments together, and may Christ be magnified, and may our God, You our Father, be glorified. In Jesus' name I thank You and praise You, Amen, Amen. Providence is an interesting thought because the word itself is not used in scripture, at least that I'm aware of. But yet it, as we understand it, it pervades the scriptural record. And so it does us well to think about this term for a moment. It came to be used particularly in the church. That's where it found its expression. And as it's defined in Christianity and in its development and even more broadly back in the Old Testament, it is showing the foreseeing care and protection from God over his creatures, and especially his saints. God's providential foreseeing care. The word itself, pro meaning before, and then the verb that it's connected with comes from the Latin verb, videri, which means to see. It means to see beforehand. And we know our God sees beforehand events that we know nothing about or are uncertain about. And so it's very very important to understand God's personal providential care in our lives and to live under the knowledge of that care to live as many of the great saints have tried to in the presence of the Lord. Our lives are lived in the presence of the Lord. The eyes of the Lord go to and fro throughout all the earth viewing what goes on here on earth as well as the universe. But He has a special interest in us. And James here in this section and in the section to come in chapter five addresses those who are entrepreneurs, those who are entrepreneurs, businessmen, if you please. I like what Craig Keener in his background commentary says about this. He says, having counseled the oppressed, James quickly turns to the oppressors, denouncing their self-satisfied, excuse me, forgetfulness of God. Most of the wealth in the Roman Empire, and this is what's critical, most of the wealth in the Roman Empire was accumulated by two means. Number one, the land gentry, those who had servants, those who had slaves, and they were assigned the task of planning and harvesting fields. They assigned it to that servitude. There were also the merchant class. And that's the class that he's addressing here in this passage. So you have the merchants, those who are business owners, those who are tradesmen, those who make, manufacture, wears, and then sell them on the market. He makes this note. The merchant class gathered great wealth by the corresponding social status. James here addresses both. The upper class usually are those who were the ones who had slaves and directed them. And we'll see that next week, how they have abused the the day laborers. But in this context, he's dealing with those who are making business plans. And it's not conversation necessarily that he was privy to. That is, he sat in on these conferences that the merchants, the businessmen, got together. Because it's in the plural. in the context who say today, we will go to such and such a city. So it was prevalent among the merchant class to make these business analysis. Where should we go? What should we sell there? What should we expect? And unlike carrying cargo in our day through trains and planes and semi-trucks, we know all of that. We see it here on a regular basis here in our border community with the produce industry and such like. They traveled in caravans and usually camels would carry their merchandise to places and they would plan to be there for months on end, even up to a year, to sell their wares, to trade in the marketplace, and always to make a profit. And so James is not concerned that they do this, but that they do it without acknowledging God in their plans. They're living their lives, they're conducting their business without any connection to divine being, even though they in all likelihood are Christian Jewish converts We call them today messianic Christians, but Christians indeed, followers of Christ and Jewish in nature, they have neglected to even consult God, to even acknowledge God in their planning. And that's a dangerous thing to do because he's the one who controls our lives. There is uncertainty here as you see it in the text. And we'll see that as we go into the text. And he calls them with a very serious note in verse 13, uses the same expression again in verse 1 of chapter 5, come now. Or as some translations put it, go to now. One translation put it, just listen. It's very important what he's saying here, and this introduces a serious topic, something that needs to be considered and deliberated on, that he's going to address. And so he states the problem initially, and that is their inability to plan as believers properly, overlooking God in the whole matter. They were planning for the future, and that is tomorrow, but even their present plans were leaving out God, and that is today. Today and tomorrow. So they're thinking in the future, here in their meeting, and they're planning for tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow. In their minds the whole thing is settled, down even to the profits of their year's trade. They were acting as if the course of the world were entirely in their own hands. How foolish to plan as if you were sure to live out the whole year. We live in uncertain times, very uncertain times. Well I was gone. There was this assassination attempt on our president. Who would have known? I suspect there are some who knew, those who are plotting the ordeal. But no one knows what a day will bring forth. If God is knowledgeable and involved in the most minute Things of life. Things that we don't even think about when a sparrow falls. Or the price of two sparrows being sold in the market. The hairs on our head. He keeps track of them. It's presumptuous on our part to forget the God who is so intimately involved in our lives as if we only need him in a crunch moment. Very dangerous. Why is it that we, first of all, should not forget God? And that is because of the uncertainty of the future. The uncertainty of the future. Note what he says, come now you who say. He may not be privy, but he is apprised of this conversation. He is apprised of what these Jewish Christian merchants were doing. You who say, this is the conversation. Today or tomorrow, we will go to such and such a city. They had their destination planned. They had the time frame work of it also outlined. We're going to spend a year in that city. And the essence of this buy and sell means that they were going to trade merchandise for currency. Probably not a barter arrangement, but they had it all figured out in their minds. Now early on in my Christian experience I suppose I had some basic understanding, some concept of God's watch care over my life. but an understanding of his providential care. That's why I specifically chose the text on glorification there, because in that context we have that text that speaks of the providence of God, and we know, and God could be the subject and not things. It could be, and we know that God, because He's the one orchestrating, and we know that God works all things together for good. God is in control of the things in our lives. He's working all of it together. He's orchestrating it for good to those who love God. So he's talking to believers and those who are called according to his purpose. Referring to the call that comes to us in our hearts, in our minds, which again, my mind is part of the heart. It's the portal of the heart. It comes to us and God calls us out of death into life, and He calls us out of darkness into light. He calls us out of bondage into freedom in Christ. It is what some describe as an effectual call. It accomplishes its purpose in the heart of the individual whom He calls, similar to what happened to Lazarus in the grave when Christ spoke The words itself infused a life into Lazarus, and he came forth bound in grave clothes out of that tomb. The call was effectual, called according to his purpose. So God works all things. He's in the background of our lives. Verse 14. gives a word of contrast here, a word of thought that they need to take into account. You're planning this way and there's something that you have neglected, maybe refused. He says, whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. Tomorrow is uncertain. Tomorrow is uncertain. Even today is uncertain. Who knows what's going to happen this afternoon? Tomorrow is uncertain. For what is your life? And this deals with the brevity of life. Life is transitory. Verse 14, the brevity of the shortness of life. politician in the 19th century. He was an immigrant from Ireland, came to the United States and settled in Georgia. His name was Richard Henry Wilde. He wrote a poem which was considered to be his magnum opus, one of his great thoughts, great writing. It was called, My Life is Like the Summer Rose. My life is like the summer rose that opens in the morning sky, but e'er the shadows of evening clothes is scattered on the ground to die. Yet, on the rose's humble bed, the sweetest dews of night are shed, as if she wept the waste to see. Now he wrote this at the demise of his brother, John Wilde, My life is like the autumn leaf, he writes, that trembles in the moon's pale ray. It holds. Its hold is frail. Its date is brief, restless, and soon to pass away. Yet ere that leaf shall fall and fade, the parent tree will mourn its shade. The winds bewail the leafless tree, but none shall breathe a sigh for me. Last stanza, verse. My life is like the prints which feet have left on Tampa's dark strand, desert strand. Soon as the rising tide shall beat, all trace will vanish from the sand. yet as if grieving to a face, all vestige of the human race. On that lone shore, loud moans the sea, but none alas shall moan for me." It certainly sets forth the idea of the brevity, the transitoriness of life, that we're here for a short time. And then we're gone. And the way he frames it here emphasizes that we're here today, gone tomorrow. Here today, gone tomorrow. And soon, in most cases, to be forgotten. Most people don't attain to some type of notoriety unless they're infamous like the assassin or the attempted assassin of President Trump. Some of these people gain notoriety that way. But most people live and die and no one has a thought of them. My brother from California, Bob, for our family get-together did a lot of genealogical research, stuff that I didn't know that was in my background. One of the things that he found in the background, which was a blessing to me, was that through my grandmother's side of the family, which would be the Archer. And then, of course, it goes back through their different maiden names. But it traced all the way back to southern France to be part of the Huguenot community, which was a Protestant, a quasi-Protestant group there in France that was under persecution, heavy persecution during the time of Calvin, the reformers, and so forth. And Paulette, her uncle did research on her family, and they trace her ancestry back to the Huguenots in France too. So it's interesting to see that connection all the way back. But more closely to our ancestry, my grandfather, Kirby, whom I never met. He died a year before I was born, 1945, cancer. He made a profession of faith, but there were members in his family of which we were not aware. There was also a member in my dad's family. that we were not aware of. He died in infancy, in infancy. And so he did the research on it, found the tombstone, which was in Linden, Michigan, which is one of the remote communities around Flint, Michigan. I found another tombstone of my grandfather's family in that area too. So it was an interesting genealogy. But all your genealogies are people who have lived. They breathed air on this earth. They drank water on this earth. And they're all gone. That's life. And it's uncertain. It's uncertain. We're here today, gone tomorrow. I found it interesting, as I was thinking on this text earlier last week, the way the text develops. It develops around conversation. In verse 13, their current conversation. Come now you who say. So he's entering into joint conversation among merchants. And then he picks up that theme again in verse 15. Instead, you ought to say, you ought to say, you ought to say. And then he focuses in on one aspect of their conversation by honing in on verse 16. But now you boast. You rejoice, it could be translated. I kind of came away with a sense that they were gloating. They were gloating in their arrogance. Their conversation was the epitome of arrogance, to think that you can plan your lives and successfully execute it apart from any consideration or acknowledgement of God. And yet how many Christians do that? Do you begin your day with God? Do you ask God to give you wisdom for the day? Do you ask Him to bless the plans that you have that day? I know when we went on our travels these past few days, that obviously before, in these uncertain times, we asked blessing and safety in our travels. But we found out there's some things that even though we think and we got there and I said to Paul I said I thought I had all my ducks in a row. You know you think that way all your planning you have it all worked out and there you know it's going to fall. Well it didn't happen that way. We were late going out of Denver to get into Detroit until middle of the morning. But even beyond that, I hadn't solidified our rental program. I was telling Mark about it before our car rental. They were supposed to notify me 48 hours in advance, and they never sent that. And so I called the company that was responsible for that, and they told me, punch number nine, and we'll get back to you. You've done that before? So I punched number nine, waited a while, didn't hear from anybody. I expected something sooner. So I called back again. Praise God, I got a hold of a customer service representative. And then bada-dee-boom, bada-dee-bing, he got it all in place. And I had my document. It was necessary. And so then I could just get on this shuttle and go over to the rental car company and get my car. Lo and behold, as we're driving out, the call The nine call came as I was checking out of the parking lot. So if I'd have waited on that I'd have been about two hours delayed, but not complaining. But you just see the hand of Providence in little details of your life. Thank God we got there safely even though it was late. Thank God for the time we had together. with my classmates, 60 year anniversary. That was a blessing in many ways. Clearly some of my classmates are believers, and the guy who orchestrated it was a believer, and that was a blessing. I'd seen him make comments about revival that they had back in Flint, back in his day there in Flint at a Methodist church. Yeah, at a Methodist church. But he's the one who led the blessing for our meal together, not only at an informal gathering, but also in a formal gathering, more formal, at a restaurant. He preceded it, and you could hear people say, amen, amen. That was a blessing to be with my classmates, and then to be with my family. And to hear, you know, some of the history of our family and the blessing of growing up in a Christian home. Excuse me. One of the pictures that one of my grandchildren wanted to take was a picture of what we called a James gang. In that picture, four generations of the use of the word James. Mine, and then I gave that name to my son, Eric, Eric James. And then my grandson, Lisa's son, they called Paul James. And then his son that was born just recently, it was called Louis James. And then another one of my grandsons had a boy and they called him Nathan James. And so we took a picture of all the James boys there in that picture. That was a blessing of the legacy of the Lord that they would deem it worthy. And I consider it an honor. I'm not just, I'm not bragging. I consider it an honor. that my family members would do that, use my name to incorporate it in the naming of their children. And some of them did that with my middle name. My son's name, I used Daniel. His middle name is Mark Daniel. His son, he named Jonathan Daniel. And then another one of my grandsons is called Joshua Daniel. Some of these people you know, obviously not, but that was a blessing from that time together with family in the goodness and providence of God. God is good and He controls the details of our lives. You know that's the way the Apostle Paul thought too. In First Corinthians 4 he says, but I will come to you shortly if the Lord will. If the Lord will or wills. I will not know, not the word of those who have puffed up. This is talking to the Corinthians. Again he writes to the Corinthians, for I do not wish to see you now on the way, but I hope to stay a while with you, if the Lord permits, if the Lord wills. to the Romans, he had desired to see them. He says, God is my witness, whom I serve by my or with my spirit in the gospel of his son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers, making request that if by some means, and who would have known, that the means by which he would see them would be an arrest in Jerusalem, and several years of incarceration, and then going to sea, and winding up shipwreck on the island of Malta, and then eventually making his way to Rome to see those, he said, by some means. That's providence. Now at last I will find my way in the will of God to come to you. Writer of Hebrews writes, and this we will do if God permits. There was this sense among the early Christians who operated in close communion with God of the providence of God if the Lord wills. we will do this or that. So it's contingent on his providence. Verses 16 and 17 are the wickedness, it should be, I think I just put wicked, the wickedness of providential neglect. The wickedness of not operating as a believer. I understand the world. They do their thing. And in some heathen context, they try to give acknowledgement to the deities. But for a believer, it is wicked not to operate in the providential care of God. Notice how he says, you're boasting. About your profits. About the enterprise that you're entering on. This boasting. Now you boast in your arrogance. You gloat. You brag in your pride. And notice he identifies it with clarity. All such boasting is evil. It's wicked. It's not right. It's not the way a Christian operates. A Christian lives and moves and has his being in a redemptive way with God. All men live and breathe and move under God's providential control, but believers especially realizing that He controls every aspect of our lives. It's an expression of arrogance, in verse 16, very similar. language as used when he is addressing the incestuous relationship at Corinth he says, it's actually reported there chapter 5 verse 1, there's sexual immorality among you and such sexual immorality is not even named among the Gentiles. That a man has his father's wife and you are puffed up. You're proud about it, you're proud about it, you're happy. You're happy about it. And have not rather mourned that he who has done this deed might be taken away from among you. They needed to discipline rather than endorse and gloat about. You're puffed up. And then in verse six he writes, you're glorying. That's the word that he uses there for boast. You're glorying is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the whole lump? The sin of arrogance. The sin of thinking that we can operate independently of God and not know his will and his blessing. And when he brings tragedy into his life, we fall apart because we've lost sight of providence. This happened. for a reason that we don't understand. I like what Dr. Ron Blue says. Well, let me just go on verse 17 first. He says, therefore, he's drawing a conclusion here to him who knows to do good. And that is to bring God's providential presence into our plans and into our activities. to acknowledge His control over our lives. To him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin. To omit it, to omit Christ, the Lordship of Christ from our lives is wrong. We confessed in salvation Christ is Lord. If we believe in our heart that God has raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with a mouth confession is made unto salvation. When is that made? If we confess Him as Lord. Romans chapter 14 is clear on the Lordship of Christ. The reason He died and rose again was to be Lord of His people. He is elevated to a position of ascendancies, the head of the body, which is the church. He's your boss. He's my boss. I'm his servant. I'm responsible to him. I report to him. And you report to him, or you ought to report to him. Dr. Blue made this comment. He says, to attain spiritual maturity, a believer must do the good he now knows. He must stand confidently on God's word, even in trials and temptations. That's from chapter one. He must compassionately serve his brethren without prejudicial favoritism. That's chapter two. He must speak carefully with a controlled tongue. That's chapter 3. With wise and cultivated thought. He must submit in contrition to an all-powerful Father. That's chapter 4. Submit to God. Humble yourself before Him. who is not only our Father, but a lawgiver and judge, with a humble spirit, just action, and trusting heart. He must be what God wants him to be, do what God wants him to do, speak as God wants him to speak, and sense what God wants him to sense. We live in the presence of God. He sees us. He intercedes for us. Christ is at the right hand of the Father, interceding. I am so blessed by that thought. Intercedes for all his people. And it's not a selfish or personal thing, because when I think about it, I think of the magnitude of all of those across the globe for whom he intercedes. I say, how can he do that? Well, he's God. He's infinite in his knowledge, infinite in his care and his love for us. There's nothing escapes His notice, individually or corporately with God's people. He is there and we ought to live our lives. The great saints of God in the Old Testament, look with me at Ezra here, and I'll move quickly. The book of Ezra chapter seven, And he frames the providence of God in his book with the language, the hand of God or the hand of the Lord. Ezra Nehemiah, just right after Second Chronicles. In chapter 7, you see the sovereign hand of God in all of this. Chapter 7, verse 6, this Ezra came up from Babylon, and he was a skilled scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given. And the king granted him all his requests according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him. The king giving him what he needed was under the providence of God. Verse 9, on the first day of the first month he began his journey from Babylon and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem according to the good hand of God upon him. For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel. God's sovereign hand was upon him. Our exercise gave him letters for his time there. Verse 27 of chapter 7 reads, Blessed be the Lord God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king's heart. to beautify the house of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem, and to extend mercy to me before the king and his counselors before all the kings, mighty princes. So I was encouraged as the hand of the Lord, my God was upon me. Providence. Chapter eight. Verse 18, Then by the good hand of God upon us they brought us a man of understanding, of the sons of Mali, the son of Levi, the son of Israel, named Sherebiah, with his sons, the good hand of God upon him. And then verse 31, Then we departed from the river Ahava for the twelfth day of the first month to go to Jerusalem, and the hand of our God was upon us. And he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambush along the way." Ezra operated under the good providence of God. We need to function that way. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, they were called upon. The whole of the empire was called to bow before this image that Nebuchadnezzar made. Three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said no way. They stood and they paid a price. They were thrown into a fire furnace. But in the providence of God, a miracle was performed. And the fire didn't singe them, they came walking out. It was a hard lesson that Nebuchadnezzar himself had to learn in chapter 4 of that book, where he had a dream about a tree, a large tree, Daniel interpreted it as his kingdom. And it would be cut off, a band would be put around it to preserve it. and the interesting language that is used there to describe this whole event in chapter four. Let me turn back a page or so in my notes where I address this issue. In chapter 4, all this came on King Nebuchadnezzar, and that is the cutting down of the tree. At the end of the 12 months, he was walking about the royal palace of Babylon. The king spoke, saying, is not this great Babylon that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power for the honor of my majesty? You talk about rejoicing or gloating And that's what he was doing. And while the word was still in the king's mouth, a voice fell from heaven. King Nebuchadnezzar to you it is spoken, the kingdom has departed from you. And so he became insane, ate with the beast of the field for seven years. And finally his senses came back to him and he acknowledges the God of heaven. and says those who walk in pride you're able to obey. He learned the importance of the providence of God even after hearing it in the interpretation of Daniel in that vision. Providence of God. The rich fool who built barns because he had had a great harvest. He says, take, eat, enjoy what you've gained. And he said, God spoke to him today. Your life is taken from you. Yes, we live life in a material world, but we live here a brief time and then eternity. eternity. May we learn the lessons of God's sovereignty, especially in the details of our life. May we pray before projects that we enter into. I do that a lot more. I say, Lord, give me wisdom, give me patience. That's what I need the most, patience. Life is uncertain. We try to regulate our life, but a lot of times emergencies and situations happen. Uncertainty of life demands we live life in the certain providence of God guiding us. Do you live that way? Do you brag about your accomplishments? God humble us, help us to walk in his providence knowing that that's where the blessing of God lies. Let's pray. Father, thank you for the moments we've had together to delve into your word, to understand what providence is, that you foresee what's in our lives and you orchestrate our lives accordingly. How does this see that when events happen merged unexpectedly as they do from time to time that it's in the providence of God for reasons we don't understand it's God's providence. Knowing that all things work together for God All our gains, all our losses, all our attainments, all our heartaches are in the providential care of God. I was to seek you in all things for protection and wisdom, knowing that you provide for us in your care. In Jesus' name, amen.