James says it is a presumption that boasts in our arrogance. How quickly we forget who we are and that our lives are lived under the good and providential care of a merciful God. How quickly we presume upon our wealth. Can you believe how strong these words are? "Come now, you rich, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have corroded, and their corrosion will be evidence against you and will eat your flesh like fire" (James 5:1-3a).
Trusting Him with our tomorrows
Do not presume that you know what tomorrow brings. Do not presume on the good things the Lord has given. Instead, trust in the providence of God and live each day by permission of the One who gave permission to men to kill His Son for you.
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Last summer I read a biography of Robert E. Lee. What an intriguing, godly and wonderful man he was. He once said: "The truth is this, the march of providence is so slow, [it unfolds gradually, we don't know it all at once] and our desires are so impatient, [like why am I sitting on this airport tarmac right now] the work of progress is so immense and our means of aiding it are so feeble, the life of humanity is so long, and that of individuals so brief, that we often see the ebb of the advancing wave and are thus discouraged. But it is history that teaches us to hope."
It is easy to become discouraged, isn't it? Where do you run when you are discouraged about the seemingly slow progress of God's providence on your behalf? Where do you look? Look at the cross. Look at how long it took Jesus to die on a cross for you. Look at the pain that He suffered there for you. Look at the mercy of God that flows out of the cross to you from His Son. Somehow the perspective we gain on all of the ups and downs and ins and outs and waitings and uncertainties and question marks of our lives falls into place like a camera lens coming into focus when we focus on the cross of Christ.
Lee is right. Our presumption will be humbled by seeing how out of control we are, how little we can affect our tomorrows, how quickly we can lose what is valuable to us, how our abilities will fail against the tide of time. But I would change one thing in Lee's statement: it is not so much history that teaches me to hope, it is Jesus Christ on the cross that teaches me to hope. It is the cross that humbles my presumption, for it is there that God purposed to do all He could do for my providential care. And if God bends all of history and the hearts of wicked men to accomplish His Son's death for me, then can I trust my tomorrows to Him?
That's the question James raises. Can you not see that you live under the permission of God for all of your tomorrows in light of the huge thing He did in one magnificent yesterday for you? In all the trials and disappointments of his life, and there were many, Robert E. Lee believed that we should do the best we can, but even as we do that we should recognize that what we intend may not always be what God intends. In odd moments, sitting at his desk as the president of Washington College (later Washington and Lee University), Lee would scratch little maxims out on a piece of paper. After his death they were all collected and the shortest one of them all is this: "God disposes. This ought to satisfy us."
It really should satisfy us to know that a sovereign God, full of providential care for us, did that which only He could do in the cross of His Son. Now all of His providential blessings flow out to our lives, and we live each day by His permission.
Thank You Father that we do indeed live by Your permission, that our lives belong to You, that You don't belong to us. Oh, You do in a way, You're a covenant God, You've given Yourself to us, but we belong to You. We live under Your leading, we are guided by the wonder of Your providential care for us. Help us to live as covenant creatures, mindful that that is deeply and beautifully and richly true, and help us to take joy in the midst of the providential unfolding of Your purposes in our lives, because You have made Your purpose secure in us by Jesus Christ and His cross and His winning us forever and our belonging to You through Him. Thank You. Amen.
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This sermon is reprinted with the permission of Park Cities Presbyterian Church, Dallas, Texas, 214-224-2500, and can be found at www.pcpc.org.
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Skip Ryan is Pastor of Park Cities Presbyterian Church in Dallas, TX.