Lord Willing If The Creek Don't Rise

James 4:13-17, “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”

My pastor said in his sermon today that his grandfather used to always say: “Lord willing, if the creek don't rise.” I really like that, so much so that I'm going to start using it.

To say “Lord willing” is one of the most important Bible truths I have ever learned. All my life I have paid attention to a lost and dying world boast of their future plans, saying what they plan to do tomorrow, without any consideration or inclusion of God. The inspired Word of God warns that all such boasting is a sin. ...

James 4:15-17, “For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that. But now ye rejoice in your boastings: all such rejoicing is evil. Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.”

It is a sin to plan for an uncertain future without honoring God in it...

Daniel 5:23, “And thou his son, O Belshazzar, hast not humbled thine heart, though thou knewest all this; But hast lifted up thyself against the LORD of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of his house before thee, and thou, and thy lords, thy wives, and thy concubines, have drunk wine in them; and thou hast praised the gods of silver, and gold, of brass, iron, wood, and stone, which see not, nor hear, nor know: and the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified:”

Life is uncertain. No one except God knows what the future holds, which is why we ought to trust Him completely. Proverbs 27:1, “Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” God is so good!!! I receive thousands of emails each years. Some of the people who contact me have given up on life and are bitter at God. They complain and tell me that the Lord never answers any of their prayers. I write back and tell them God doesn't answer mine either, but I just keep praying and trust Him anyway. That is what faith is, casting our burdens upon the Lord through prayer and then resting in His wisdom and love. Job 13:15, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.”

Dear reader, never place God on trial in your life. I am amazed when Americans get so down and frustrated with God, that they complain and tell me how horrible their life is. Do they not realize how blessed we are to live in these modern times? Numbers 11:1 says,

Of all the sins that the Lord abhorred of the Hebrews, it was their complaining that displeased Him the most. Ten times they complained, until God had finally had enough of them...

Numbers 14:22-24, “Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it: But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.”

Wow! The Jews had seen the Red Sea parted, and crossed from Egypt into the Wilderness on dry ground. We don't know how deep the water was at the area where they crossed over, but the deepest point in the Red Sea is nearly 10,000 feet down. Its maximum width is 190 miles, its greatest depth 9,974 feet (3,040 meters), and its area approximately 174,000 square miles (450,000 square km). The Red Sea contains some of the world's hottest and saltiest seawater. Those are amazing facts! Yet, even after seeing God part the Red Sea, which was likely hundreds of feet high at the area where they crossed over on dry ground, the people still moaned and complained. What ingrates! After being enslaved in Egypt for 400 years, and then freed by God through his servant Moses, you'd think that the people would have been very grateful to God and Moses, but they weren't.

I was in a grocery store years ago and heard the radio being broadcast through speakers in the supermarket ceiling. The commercial was trying to get people to invest for their retirement someday. The man speaking didn't mention God at all, which reminded me of our text Scripture passage from James 4:13-17. The heathen world makes plans for tomorrow with no thought of God. The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom the Bible teaches in Proverbs.

“Lord willing, if the creek don't rise,” by God's grace and strength, I will continue this ministry of care and love for God, people and truth. Anybody who spends time around me knows that I always prefix everything I say with the phrase: “Lord willing.” I don't speak these words as a mere ritual; but rather, because I truly do believe that God plays a major part in our lives, and most of all because the Bible commands that we do it. We should never tell someone what we plan to do tomorrow (or down the road in the future), without mentioning if it be God's will.

What saith the Scripture? Acts 17:24-25, “God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;” As we read earlier from Daniel 5:22-23 concerning King Belshazzar, and now here again from the Apostle Paul in Acts 17:25, Jesus keeps us alive and breathing. Our very life hangs in the balance in God's hands.

Did you know that the human heart (even a small newborn baby's heart) beats an astounding 100,000 times a day? It is true. Wow, that is amazing! In the average human lifetime, a heart will pump an astonishing 3 railroad tankers of blood. God is more than amazing!!! May we all get into the godly habit of saying “Lord willing” or “if it be God's will” or “Lord willing if the creek don't rise,” to acknowledge and glorify our wonderful Savior, Creator and God.

Dear friend, today could be the last day of your life, so live it for Christ as if it were the last; and whatever plans you make for the future, please always remember that there is no guarantee of tomorrow. Lord willing, we will be around to fulfill our hopes, goals and plans in the future here on earth. Philippians 1:21, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”