How would we know what is going to happen tomorrow? The length of our lives is as uncertain as the morning fog—now you see it; soon it is gone. James 4:13-15

James 4:13-15 The Message

Nothing but a Wisp of Fog

^13-15 And now I have a word for you who brashly announce, “Today—at the latest, tomorrow—we’re off to such and such a city for the year. We’re going to start a business and make a lot of money.” You don’t know the first thing about tomorrow. You’re nothing but a wisp of fog, catching a brief bit of sun before disappearing. Instead, make it a habit to say, “If the Master wills it and we’re still alive, we’ll do this or that.”

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

With the coming of 2025 in just a few short days, it is time to remind ourselves; transitions in our lives can be exciting and challenging. Whether it’s a new job, a change in financial relationship status, or move to a different city, transitions require us to place trust in God’s guidance and to surrender our plans to him.

In times of transition, we may feel uncertain and overwhelmed. Yet we can find comfort in knowing that God is with us every step of the way. As we trust in the Lord with all our heart, mind soul and strength, as we wait, as He is directing our paths and providing the wisdom and strength we’ll need (Proverbs 3:5-6).

During transitions, we should first seek God’s will through prayer, aligning our desires with his Word, and by searching out the wise counsel of others. We trust that the Lord will make our paths straight, even when the way seems unclear.

Isaiah 35:8-10 The Message

^8-10 There will be a highway
    called the Holy Road.
No one rude or rebellious
    is permitted on this road.
It’s for God’s people exclusively—
    impossible to get lost on this road.
    Not even fools can get lost on it.
No lions on this road,
    no dangerous wild animals—
Nothing and no one dangerous or threatening.
    Only the redeemed will walk on it.
The people God has ransomed
    will come back on this road.
They’ll sing as they make their way home to Zion,
    unfading halos of joy encircling their heads,
Welcomed home with gifts of joy and gladness
    as all sorrows and sighs scurry into the night.

He knows the plans he has for us (Jeremiah 29:11), and his timing is perfect.

Jeremiah 29:10-14 The Message

^10-11 This is God’s Word on the subject: “As soon as Babylon’s seventy years are up and not a day before, I’ll show up and take care of you as I promised and bring you back home. I know what I’m doing. I have it all planned out—plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.

¹² “When you call on me, when you come and pray to me, I’ll listen.

^13-14 “When you come looking for me, you’ll find me.

“Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I’ll make sure you won’t be disappointed.” God’s Decree.

“I’ll turn things around for you. I’ll bring you back from all the countries into which I drove you”—God’s Decree—“bring you home to the place from which I sent you off into exile. You can count on it.

As we receive such assurances, as we ponder long and hard upon His promises, as we pull out our God Positioning System, turn it on, program it through our prayers to navigate transitions in life, let’s embrace them with faith and hope.

May we come to Fully Rely On God’s guidance and be open to the opportunities he presents to us. In every season of change, however small or large, easy or hard, we can trust God is surely busy working all things together for our good. (Romans 8:28).

With navigating through transitions in mind, to understand what is meant in James 4:14 that life is “even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away,” it’s important to look at the larger context of the passage.

James writes,

“Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make profit’—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.’ As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin” (James 4:13–17).

In this passage, James is talking about people who live solely in the confidence of themselves.

They take for granted that each day is given to them and that their own plans will work out. They do not live depending on God for their needs because they are confident in their own plans and ability. They do not consider whether or not their plans are pleasing to God, nor are they making time to serve others.

This attitude stems from their belief of a guaranteed life.

While we are young, our time on earth seems like an eternity, but truly our days are like a vapor, here for one short moment and irretrievably gone the next.

A vapor cannot make its existence last any longer, and it leaves the space it once occupied virtually unchanged. James is pointing out the self-importance we all give to our lives and our instant, impulsive plans without considering eternity.

A psalm written by Moses says,

“For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are seventy or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away…So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:9–12).

When we finally get around to actually, authentically, learn to look at our lives as fleeting and short, we will come to understand that the true importance of our lives lies not with our business deals, fleeting schemes for success, rather we can make an eternal impact on peoples’ lives by being a witness for Christ.

The Bible says that we should live our lives ready for Christ’s coming in season and out of season (2 Timothy 4:2).

We are to consider ourselves only as short term sojourners on this green earth because our eternity will be spent elsewhere, and what we do here impacts our lives, and potentially the lives of others, for eternity (1 Chronicles 29:15).

Our lives should not be lived in arrogance towards God and confidence in ourselves.

Rather we should live as Paul directed:

“Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel” (Philippians 1:27).

“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory” (Colossians 3:2–4).

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 8 The Message

8 God, brilliant Lord,
    yours is a household name.

² Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you;
    toddlers shout the songs
That drown out enemy talk,
    and silence atheist babble.

^3-4 I look up at your macro-skies, dark and enormous,
    your handmade sky-jewelry,
Moon and stars mounted in their settings.
    Then I look at my micro-self and wonder,
Why do you bother with us?
    Why take a second look our way?

^5-8 Yet we’ve so narrowly missed being gods,
    bright with Eden’s dawn light.
You put us in charge of your handcrafted world,
    repeated to us your Genesis-charge,
Made us stewards of sheep and cattle,
    even animals out in the wild,
Birds flying and fish swimming,
    whales singing in the ocean deeps.

⁹ God, brilliant Lord,
    your name echoes around the world.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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