Preparing for an extended trip can be quite challenging. As I write, Grace and I are just four more days away from leaving for our sabbatical. Both the excitement and the stress is building up. We haven’t really packed our bags yet. We’re still figuring out exactly what we will need for the trip. One thing is sure, we want to travel light and not “over pack.” At the same time, we’re also doing the final steps in making sure that we properly turn over our responsibilities to others and give them the resources to fulfill their role.
Planning and preparation are important. But when planning and preparation become stressful, I must learn to face the truth of my human limitations, and know that there are things that are way beyond my control. In fact, Scripture warns me against being presumptuous about what I can and cannot do. There are things that belong to God alone.
James reminds us: “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that’” (James 4.13–15 NIV).
Jesus also tells us not to fret but to entrust our plans and our lives to him and his purposes. “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6.33–34 NIV).
It’s not that God doesn’t want me to plan anything, to map out itineraries for the trip or make advance arrangements. It’s just that I must not take upon myself the burden of trying to control all outcomes, or engaging in unhealthy worrying about them. Any attempt to do so is to adopt an attitude that gives me too much credit about my abilities. It is tantamount to boasting. And that is not pleasing to God. In fact, “All such boasting is evil” (James 4.16 NIV).
This really is about life. Not just about some five-week trip. There is so much in life that I can try to control myself. But that would be self-deception. I should learn, instead, to always trust the Lord in all things. Turn everything into his hands. Follow his lead. And enjoy the trip!
—Keith Y. Jainga