James 4:14

"Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just. vapor that appears for. little while and then vanishes away."Yet you do not know". Proverbs 27:1 "Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what. day may bring forth." Like the rich man in Luke 12:19. we can easily assume that we have "many years". Here we see human presumptuousness. We are admittedly very finite, why we can't even guarantee that we will be around tomorrow. And yet, we so easily make earthly plans which stretch far out into the future, without even thinking that we might not be around. "what your life will be like tomorrow" -The same people who are making plans for the whole year---don't even know if they will be around tomorrow! In addition, they don't even know what their life will be like tomorrow.

Points To Note:

1. The text naturally assumes that no man can predict the future. Only those guided by the Holy Spirit can penetrate into such mysteries. The above verse wouldn't be true if true psychics really existed. This is precisely why God condemns psychics, astrologers and everything other human attempt to penetrate the future, for it manifests man's attempt to be independent of God. 2. The verse also assumes that. lot can happen in one day, and that even the best forecasters, businessmen and experts cannot anticipate everything. As Solomon said, "for time and chance overtake them all" (Ecclesiastes 2:11). "It is, therefore, sheer folly for one to act as if the future is under one's control when one is wholly ignorant of what even one day holds" (Woods p. 248). "You are just. vapor" -Especially when we are young we think we are invincible and eternal. James brings us down to reality. What type or quality of life do we really possess? The expression "what your life will be like tomorrow", in some manuscripts reads, "for what kind of life is yours". "just. vapor" -boy, what. humbling statement! "Your life is transitory, precarious, and not totally controllable or predictable….Like steam that escapes from. pan cooking over the fire, or the breath that is briefly visible on. cold morning, so life itself has its time of visibility; but in light of God's eternal plan, the earthly manifestation is brief" (Kent pp. 162-163). "The word 'vapor' means either 'mist, fog, breath, or smoke.' Any such rendering will preserve the figure. It stands for something seemingly with us which vanishes suddenly and is seen no more. Even. full life is only. moment in eternity" (Roberts p. 177).

Points To Note:

1. God often reminds mankind that physical life here on the earth, even. long life time is still extremely brief (Isaiah 2:6). It seems that every generation seems to think that its own time somehow constitutes. time that has been different from all other times. While other generations have come and gone, we tend to think that our generation is the only lasting and relevant generation. 2. Psalms 39:4 "Lord, make me to know my end, and what is the extent of my days, let me know how transient. am "; Job 2:7; Job 2:1; Job 2:1. In addition, we tend to think that unless we have. long life, that our life will have been lived in vain. But it isn't how long we live that counts, rather it is what we do will the years that we are given. Too many of us are always planning for the future while never living as we should today.