Daily Devotional for Saturday, March 23

Depend on God for the Future

“Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that,” James 4:14, 15.

Living on the mission field, we learned to hold plans loosely. Our first family trip to the village taught us a lasting lesson. We had a great week meeting people and launching our ministry to help the Yetfa people have God’s Word in their language. Friday morning, we radioed the hangar to get a weather report—good to go. We packed up, gave away our leftover food, and waited for the plane. Soon, clouds rolled in. Our pilot, Paul, radioed and reported that a huge cloud bank was preventing him from landing. He would refuel in another village and wait it out, but he closed with, “Do not give away your food!” Uh, oh.

The cloud bank continued to hover, and Paul radioed another pilot nearby, but he, too, could not get near us. Paul knew this was our first village visit, and his patience and skill gave us a great story. He tried again, circling several times before the clouds opened just a crack. He swooped down and landed. Paul took tons of photos of us with the Yetfa people and made a short interview video. What a treasure! However, we learned that day, “Do not give away your food until the plane is on the ground!”

James reminded us that we do not know the future. Our lives are like a vapor; we cannot hold anything in place. We should simply say, “Lord willing.” I was privileged to grow up around folks who said, “Lord willing.” Many times, there was an added phrase about a creek rising. Even if the creek rises, if the Lord is willing something should happen, it will happen. He has parted bigger waters than creeks and huge cloud banks to make things happen. We can leave off the creek part! Simply say, “Lord willing.”

THOUGHT
Even though I do not understand everything that may happen tomorrow, I do know God is in control, and He holds my hand.

Kelli Reynolds