“YOU DO NOT KNOW!”

 

James 4:13-17                 (ESV)

Boasting About Tomorrow

“[13] Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—[14] yet “YOU DO NOT KNOW” what tomorrow will bring. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE? For you are a mist that appears for a little time AND THEN VANISHES. [15] Instead you ought to say, “IF THE LORD WILLS, we will live and do this or that.” [16] As it is, you boast in your “arrogance”. ALL SUCH BOASTING IS EVIL.  [17] So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin.”

For someone who has travelled the journey that I have been assigned, “YOU DO NOT KNOW” has a TOTALLY different meaning NOW than it did previously!!  Others probably have a different understanding, but the PATH that has been ASSIGNED to me makes it CLEAR, VERY CLEAR, that I AM NOT in control of anything, much less tomorrow!!!  “

YOU DO NOT KNOW” whether or not you will be alive for your next breath!  Your confidence in your ability to “produce” air isn’t very reliable, as I found out very distinctly a few years ago!!  

To say that I was “arrogant” might be a bit over the top, but I certainly thought that I could “get things done”!!  But a seventeen day coma OPENED my eyes to understand that I had NO ABILITIES outside of the LORD JESUS CHRIST!!!  Yes, my breathing is “reflexive”, but those “reflexes” originate from SOMEWHERE???  Where does the oxygen that is REQUIRED for humanity to exist come from???  Will it EVER run out???

ULTIMATELY, GOD has THE END OF TIME all figured out!  HE had it figured out when HE SAID LET THERE BE anything!!! HE even figured out that HIS servants would ALL go against HIS PLAN!!  One thing I DO KNOW is that “YOU DO NOT KNOW” what tomorrow will bring,  but I DO KNOW WHO IS BRINGING IT!!!

“NINETEEN YEARS AGO!”

 

Nineteen years ago (July 29, 2007) the world was celebrating for the 77th time the birth of my mom!  She would never experience another birthday, as on February 27, 2008 cancer would claim her earthly life. 

But, it was another day of celebration for me as I was being brought out of a 17 day coma following a “massive brain hemorrhage” on July 09, 2007.  On Friday, July 27, 2007, I was scheduled to have a tracheotomy, but the ENT doctor was “too busy” and when he came to my ICU room they told him that plans were being made to bring me out of the coma in a couple of days?!?  The ENT said that the tracheotomy procedure “could wait” a couple of days!!!  That was nineteen years ago Monday evening!!!  There has been STILL NO TRACHEOTOMY for me!!!!

They DID bring me out to the coma on my mom’s birthday, and I was never returned to that condition!!  My mom stated “that’s the best birthday present I ever received”!!!  It took a couple of weeks to get me released to the rehabilitation hospital, and then a week or so to get my bearings back, but on August 29, 2007 I walked out of rehab (with the assistance of a walker), something that I only used a couple of months (or so) after I was “let go”!!!  The insurance agency that I had sold in 2006 was available to repurchase in 2009, so I bought it back and ran it until my retirement in 2024.  

The medical records from my initial office appointment with my physician following my release from the rehabilitation hospital was on September 25, 2007.  His notes say “However, he has had a remarkable recovery that could only be defined as a miracle from GOD”!  I asked my “same” doctor about these comments in a recent visit and he replied, “ABSOLUTELY!”  

A Bible verse came to my recollection shortly afterwards, “I AM THE LORD; THAT IS MY NAME; MY GLORY I GIVE TO NO OTHER, NOR MY PRAISE TO CARVED IDOLS.”!!!  ALL of my doctors and nurses and rehabilitation staff deserve recognition for their work and dedication in my recovery!  But GOD GETS ALL OF THE GLORY for EVERY BREATH that I will EVER take……until HE CALLS me to Heaven!!!

“BE STILL, AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD!”

The more that everything continues to get “out of control”, the more that “BE STILL, and KNOW that I AM GOD” seems like our best option?!?!?

“I WILL!”

 

Leviticus 26:11-13                 (ESV)

“[11] “I WILL” make MY DWELLING among you, and MY SOUL shall not abhor you. [12] And “I WILL” walk among you and WILL be your GOD, and YOU SHALL BE MY PEOPLE. [13] I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD, WHO brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should NOT BE THEIR SLAVES. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.”

THE CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSES doesn’t just do ANYTHING without a purpose and a reason behind it!  GOD didn’t give us BLESSINGS or CURSES without HIS PLAN being fulfilled.  I’m not smart enough to understand “why” sometimes, but as HIS PLAN is revealed to me I am humbled to SEE HIS HAND ALL OVER it!!!

Being just a small part of HIS PLAN for my life is a HUGE BLESSING that I am so grateful to have a part in.  To UNDERSTAND that the same “I WILL” WHO CREATED THE UNIVERSES makes HIS DWELLING INSIDE of my heart is a mystery that is above my current pay grade, but HE is working ALL THINGS (Romans 8:28) for HIS GLORY!!! I simply have to WAIT FOR THE LORD (Psalm 27:14) and HIS PLAN to come to fruition in my life!!

ALMIGHTY GOD didn’t “require” me to do ANYTHING to make it through the Brain Hemorrhage in 2007!  Just like HE didn’t need my assistance in securing my beautiful wife in my younger years.  HE DID require me to WAIT for HIS PLAN to unfold in BOTH scenarios though!  HIS PLAN had my wife and I getting married on February 17, and HIS PLAN had me in a coma for 17 days before HE WOULD GET GLORY for the restoration of my brain activity.  HIS PLAN IS BEST, however it needs to be WAITED on, FOR HIS GLORY!!!

WAITING FOR THE LORD can be a very uncomfortable, even debilitating, experience?  But when one backs away and SEES from where HIS PLAN is leading us, it all becomes VERY CLEAR!!!  “”I WILL” walk among you and WILL be your GOD, and YOU SHALL BE MY PEOPLE” isn’t something that we should EVER forget!!!  I can TESTIFY that it is TRUE!!!

“SET YOUR MINDS!”

 

Colossians 3:1-2                 (ESV)

“[1] If then you have been raised with CHRIST, seek the things that are ABOVE, where CHRIST is, seated at the right hand of GOD. [2] “SET YOUR MINDS” on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”

A dear friend of mine passed away earlier this week.  He was older than I, and was used in my life to get me through my rough developing teen years.  I was a “handful” back then, and I a challenge to most who GOD used to mature me.  He used to take me fishing, teaching me to SET THE HOOK at a.body of water near where he lived!  

When I saw “SET YOUR MINDS” recently, my mind was taken back to my friend’s words of SETTING THE HOOK, which assured that your “catch” would not get away.  The Apostle Paul was instructing us to FIX OUR THOUGHTS on THINGS ABOVE, trying to get us to focus on us not letting our Spiritual endeavors get away from us.  Far too often we tend to be so busy that we don’t “SET YOUR MINDS” on the PERMANENCY of HEAVEN, even when WE KNOW that is what we should be looking towards!!!

This humble servant doesn’t do a very good job of making sure that I “SET YOUR MINDS” on things that are ABOVE!  Making certain that I “don’t let the big one” get away should be FOREMOST in our lives?!?!  

Missing a big fish is not an enjoyable experience!   But missing out on GODS BLESSINGS is FAR MORE IMPORTANT!!!  “SET YOUR MINDS” on things that are ABOVE!!!

“THAT THEY MAY BELIEVE THAT YOU SENT ME!”

 

John 11:38-44                 (ESV)

JESUS Raises Lazarus

“[38] Then JESUS, deeply moved again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay against it. [39] JESUS said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “LORD, by this time there will be an odor, for he has been dead FOUR DAYS.” [40] JESUS said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of GOD?” [41] So they took away the stone. And JESUS lifted up HIS eyes and said, “FATHER, I thank YOU that YOU have heard ME. [42] I knew that YOU always hear ME, but I said this on account of the people standing around, “THAT THEY MAY BELIEVE THAT YOU SENT ME”.” [43] When HE had said these things, HE cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” [44] The man who had died came out, his hands and feet bound with linen strips, and his face wrapped with a cloth. JESUS said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

How many times did JESUS resurrect a body that had been dead for four days???  As a matter of fact, some were concerned that there would be an odor when the tomb was unsealed.  There was numerous reasons to believe that Lazarus should have been forgotten about, especially since he had been dead for FOUR DAYS!  But when JESUS was in the equation, NOTHING IS/WAS IMPOSSIBLE!!!

JESUS was in an interesting spot in the Scriptures above.  It was apparent that HE KNEW that HE was GOD IN FLESH, but some people who were “in the midst” may not have been SURE that HE was DIVINITY!  He simply had to cause a dear friend, Lazarus, to be DEAD for FOUR DAYS and then raise him from the dead!!  No problem, since HE WAS/IS GOD IN FLESH!!!

HE IS STILL working miracles that are readily apparent to EYES that are able to SEE!  Nineteen years ago I was in a drug induced coma and the supposed outcome wasn’t very good!!  But on July 25 in the early hours of the morning my blood pressure plummeted!  This story is difficult to tell because I was healed so totally and quickly!  

There are many people who still say that it might have been “not as bad as it seemed”, but my personal physician wrote in my medical records on September 25, 2007 “However, he has had a remarkable recovery that can only be described as a miracle from GOD”!!!  My doctor for almost 40 years makes no qualms about anyone knowing “THAT THEY MAY BELIEVE THAT YOU SENT ME”!!!

I am CERTAINLY BLESSED to be used by GOD for people to SEE HIS GOODNESS through my life!!!

“HAVE YOU NEVER READ?”

 

Mark 2:23-28                 (ESV)

JESUS Is LORD of the Sabbath

“[23] One Sabbath HE was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, HIS disciples began to pluck heads of grain. [24] And THE PHARISEES were saying to HIM, “Look, WHY are THEY doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” [25] And HE said to them, “”HAVE YOU NEVER READ” what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: [26] how he entered the house of GOD, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” [27] And HE said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. [28] So the SON of MAN is lord even of the Sabbath.”

THE PHARISEES were always very “critical” of JESUS, and HE was very critical of what THE PHARISEES “taught”!  It was as if THE PHARISEES wanted to make a way to PROVE that “their religion” was TRUE, and JESUS IS TRUTH (John 14:6)!  Part of THE PLAN was that ultimately THE PHARISEES had JESUS crucified, but HE DEFEATED death, hell and the grave when HE said “It is FINISHED”!!!

JESUS KNEW that mankind needed to have REST!  This FACT was emphatically proven to this humble servant in July 2007!  Genesis 2:3 says “So GOD blessed the seventh day AND MADE IT HOLY, because on it GOD RESTED from all HIS work that HE had done in creation.”  HE CREATED the Sabbath, not because HE was overworked, but because humanity needed to have a time to WORSHIP HIM!!!

Humans sometimes get the idea that they have everything “figured out”, like we KNOW “what is needed” for our lives to be better???  But JESUS exquisitely said that “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”  We don’t need to assume that we know better than what JESUS “prescribed”!  We need to humbly acknowledge that HE IS THE CREATOR and we are simply THE CREATED!!!

But reality is that we are humanity and from time to time have to be reminded of that position.  THE PHARISEES (for the most part) were used to illustrate that “HAVE YOU NEVER READ” the Scriptures and what they were missing in their lives!!!  They weren’t familiar enough with THE WORD to acknowledge WHO was right in front of them!!!  Only GOD can know if we are CHOSEN, and whether we classify as “HAVE YOU NEVER READ”???