Woody Allen is credited with saying, "If you want to make God laugh, tell Him about your plans." Those sayings seem especially powerful and poignant at the present moment. A tiny, tiny little organism called "Covid-19" – a novel strain of the coronavirus – has abruptly interrupted and drastically altered the plans and lives of 100's of millions of people around the globe. No public gatherings, not even for a funeral service. Masks. Social distancing, Self-quarantining. Public events postponed or canceled. Schools and universities closed. Sports at every level – professional down to the "peewee" league – shut down. Even the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo postponed till 2021. Toilet paper being hoarded! Businesses, bars, companies, and even churches have closed their buildings. Gospel meetings, church seminars and mission trips have been scrubbed. Many preachers have been of necessity become "TV evangelists" via Facebook Live, Youtube, and a host of church web sites. I don’t think God is laughing. Whether He is or not, the coronavirus has blown our plans to pieces.
What can we learn from all of this? One lesson that ought to get through even the hardest heads is that there is a God, and none of us are Him. None of us is in total control. Like the weather, our personal plans and regular routines can change in a hurry, whether we like it or not! Psalm 115:3, "But our God is in heaven; He does whatever He pleases." Blunt words in James 4:13-17 warn not to make plans and attempt to live as though we are in complete control of what happens – "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.’ " What’s the problem with that, Brother James? He continues: "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. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.’ But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. There- fore, to him who knows to do do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.' "
Did you catch the big point in all of that? James was not down on people making plans. He was not down on them because they desired to "make a profit." He was down on them because they didn’t have God anywhere in the plan! They were playing the part of God. But they were under a delusion. They were convinced they were lord of their own lives, that were in charge, calling the shots each day. Without reference to God, they planned to "make a profit." But James jerks the rug out from under their self-confident arrogance – "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." They forgot two vitally important and fundamental facts about life – it is uncertain, and it is brief! None of us knows what will happen to us in the next 10 minutes, let alone the next year. Here is what is certain – there is a God, and none of us is Him, even though many people act like they are!
Jesus’ words in Matthew 16:26 continue to challenge each of us – "For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his owns soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?" No plan will profit us if it doesn’t include God.
by: Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN
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