uncertainty of Life

“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’; 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” (James 4:13-14).
 
The uncertainty of life is a reality that has been obvious in every age of divine history. Since the day that Adam and Eve violated God’s command and ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, mankind has never been certain about what tomorrow holds.
 
James here refreshes our memory of this reality and warns about leaving God out of our plans for the future. God is, after all, in control; and our lives are but a passing moment in the overall picture.
 
The warnings that come from this reality are that we should always keep God’s will in sight as we plan for the future and that we conduct our lives in such a way that we are always prepared to meet Him in judgment.