My Friend James – “If the Lord wills”
Dear sisters, I am skipping ahead a bit in James today, because one of my brothers passed away suddenly on November 27, just days after we celebrated Thanksgiving together.
James 4:13-15 [NKJV] 13 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"; 14 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. 15 Instead you [ought] to say, "If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that."
Most poignant to me is this: “[Life] is a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away”.
Henry “Chip” Schmidt III was 61 years old. He died nine years short of the “threescore and ten” we might expect. It wasn’t enough time for his only child who is just 19. It wasn’t enough time for friends and family who will mourn him. It was not enough time for him to make all the life and spiritual changes he was working so hard to accomplish.
He was working on refurbishing an antique a chair for me. He didn’t have enough time to finish it. After his death, I picked it up unfinished and will complete the refurbishing myself. It’ll always remind me of Chip and his love of woodworking.
Romans 8:28 [ESV] reminds us that “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose”.
From my perspective, the last year had been one of great and wonderful changes for Chip and I am glad that I lived to see his success and to rejoice with him. I know he was still struggling with some life changes. But isn’t that our perpetual state as humans, especially those of us who love God and seek to walk “according to His purpose”?
Romans 8:28 [ESV] reminds us that “we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose”.
It is hard to see the sudden and untimely death of a loved one as something that is according to His purpose. But we don’t know the mind of God, do we? What I do know is that Chip love God. I also know that he struggled and now that struggle is over. Those of us left behind are filled with sorrow and, for believing friends and family, also with hope for the future that we are promised.
Bottom line and what I want to leave with you today, sweet sisters, is two scriptures about the future that our Loving Father predestined for His children and this earth:
Revelation 21:4 [KJV] “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” I look forward to the day when there is no more reason to cry, especially over the death of a loved one.
Isaiah 11:9 [NKJV] “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea.” I very much look forward to the day when there is no longer anyone who doesn’t know God.
Whatever steps we face along the way toward this time of peace and love, and knowledge of God, we can be comforted in the fact that the coming of this future is exactly the “according to His purpose” that all of life’s risks and challenges and rewards are pushing humanity towards.
Be blessed, sweet sisters, for we know the purpose and will of God for us all is a glorious, pain and sorrow-free world, filled with the knowledge of God’s deep, abiding love for His creation.
I’d welcome your thoughts. You can write me in the chat or email me any time at Nancy@DynamicChristianMinistries.org