Who is The Master of My Fate??

Who is the master of my fate? That is a question that I think I would never utter because I "know" the truth, but often times I do not live like I "know" the truth.

Early a few mornings ago I was sitting on the edge of a cliff overlooking beautiful Lake Isabella admiring God's glory and thinking on many things I had been wrestling with in my own mind when the providence of God entered my mind and brought me much encouragement...it was almost like a light bulb going off in my head. As I was praying about some things going on in my life; for wisdom and discernment and direction and that God's will would be done and not my own God brought Proverbs 16:33 to the forefront of my mind, " The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD." All the worrying, all the questioning and all the uncertainity stopped at that very moment and I was able to rest in the comfort of knowing that my sovereign God had everything under control, had every step planned out and was going to prove Himself faithful forever.

Ironically or should I say providentially God spoke again to me on this very issue this weekend at church as Phil Johnson (Grace to You Ministries) brought a message from James. James, a book of wisdom in many ways tackles one of what can be the most depressing or encouraging topics in Christianity...God's sovereignty and providence.

James 4:13-17 "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." 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. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn't do it, sins."

Any truth from a human perspective seems bleak but from God's, the divine we see glory and goodness of our mighty King and can find great encouragement.

Verse 14a "Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow..
From a human perspective, the future is not certain. The only things that are certain are things that are specifically spelled out in Scripture as promises that have been revealed. Although you may offer that the sun will rise tomorrow at a certain time, it is not certain and we cannot be certain that even if it does rise tomorrow that we will be there to view it. Mark 13:32 says "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father." We do not know the hour that He will return. Deut 29:29 says, "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law." Here we see again that we really do not have any certainity about the future.

v14 "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."
Secondly, our lives are not constant. Life itself is a variable, it is brief and fragile. Throughout Scripture we find countless warnings and exhortations from many different books explaining this very idea...that life is a vapor. Psalm 39:5, Psalm 89:47, Psalm 90:5, Isaiah 40:6-7 says, "A voice says, "Cry out." And I said, "What shall I cry?" "All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field. The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them. Surely the people are grass."

, 1 Peter 1:24, Job 7:6-7, 9:25-26 and 14:1-2. We are insignificant in the eternal scope of things.

v15-16 "Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil."
Lastly, we are not sovereign. The rebuke we read in Scripture about planning here in James is not referring to planning but to leaving God out of your planning not planning relying on God's will or desiring that His will be done. There is no dependence shown towards God in this aspect. YOU CANNOT LEAVE HIM OUT OF IT!!! In our own pride there is often a tendency to think we know better or for us to plan things without seeking Him in prayer and with a desire that He will work it out. You can make all the plans you want but rarely does it, if ever, work out the way you think or want it to. The parables in the end of Matthew 24 and beginning of 25 show us that you must plan for life's uncertainities (from our perspective). We cannot control the future, even if we knew it we couldn't.

From the human perspective what we may be very discouraged. But take a look at it from the divine side of things and may you be encouraged. A simple definition of the providence of God is as follows, according to Phil Johnson " God's sovereign working in every detail of whatever happens to assure everything He created acheives the puprose He made it for!" What an encouragement in knowing that God is ultimately and intimately involved in every aspect of our lives.

v15 "Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that."
The future is absolutely certain! God knows the future, He has planned it and He will carry it out! Everything that happens is God's will, Ephesians 1:11 "In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will..." In Isaiah 46:9-10 we read about God decreeing everything. In this we must also realize that evil is a part of God's plan although He is not the effectual cause of it, He planned for it. God was not surprised by it. He didn't create the world and stand back amazed that the fall occurred but instead He planned for it for His own glory and his wise and holy purposes.

v14"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."
God is perfectly constant. Everytime I think about this attribute of God I find great comfort. Everything in life is changing constantly but we can find hope in the fact that He is the only being that never changes! He is always faithful, always true to His Word, and the same yesterday today and forevermore! James 1:17 and 1 Timothy 6:16

v15-16 "Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil."
God is utterly sovereign. Do you realize that to think of God as anything other than being sovereign is not ok, in fact it is a sin! We wouldn't pray to an unsovereign God...think about that, it wouldn't make sense. Do not rob God of His glory in thinking that somehow we have some control over our lives. Colossians 1:16-17 says this so clearly when we read
"For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." There are no what we would call "random" happenings, everything happens for a specific purpose. Romans 8:28 wouldn't make sense otherwise. Proverbs 16:33 reminds us that it is God who directs our pathhs. James 1:19 and Romans 8:29-20 clearly states that it is even God who is sovereign over our salvation in every aspect! Genesis 45:5 teaches us that God is even sovereign over evil acts (Job gives us a clear picture of this as well). Think about that for a second, it was the most evil act in the world that God used to bring him the most glory and for the greatest good...the cross of Christ!

So who is the master of our fate? Who gets to make the shots, who gets to decide? Who makes the decisions? Who works things out for good in the lives of those who love him and who brings glory to His name? Who works EVERY DETAIL in order to acheive a specific end? GOD!! God is the master of our fate, He is the one who has it all under control. Remembering this such bring us great encouragement, joy and hope!!!

As Oswald Chambers has said "Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One who is leading."