Life is unpredictable

“Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." 14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
15 Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." (James 4:13-15 NIV)

Life is unpredictable. But we can be tempted to live as if we are in control of everything. Modern life provides us with a tension or paradox. On the one hand, advances in technology suggest that we are increasingly in control of our world. We can predict the weather, prolong life and communicate across the globe in seconds. On the other hand, we live with increasing levels of uncertainty, fear and anxiety. We have global warming, incurable diseases and relationship breakdown. How are we meant to live in the midst of this paradox?

Some people withdraw from the challenges of life. They long for the past, escape to the “country” or live for themselves to the exclusion of others. Jesus describes one such person in the parable of the “rich fool”. This man builds up lots of wealth and keeps building bigger barns to keep it in. "But God said to him, `You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?'21 "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God." (Luke 12:20-21)

God’s offers us an alternative way to live. It is to plan for the future, admit life’s uncertainty and place our trust in God. It is expressed in words like,

"If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." (James 4:15 NIV)

Such an attitude does not allow the uncertainty of life to paralyse us. Nor, does it pretend that everything is guaranteed and sure. Instead, it depends on the goodness and power of God. It trusts that the One who created the world also sustains it and us. It looks beyond the things which are temporary and will fade away. It focuses on being “rich toward God” and valuing those things which will last for eternity.

How do you cope with the unpredictability of life?