Do I Really Have to Say Lord Willing?

So I mean he is he is making a critique on the words is this doesn't just reduce to like a A critique on their hidden motivations or something like that, right?

I mean he could have said come now you who think like he could have said that right come now you who think That today or tomorrow we're gonna go and do all this stuff, right?

But it's not a critique on what they think it's a critique on what they're saying Warning the following message may be offensive to some audiences

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The issue is that humanity is in sin and the wrath of almighty god

Is hanging over our head They will hear his words.

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Welcome to bible bashed where we aim to equip the saints for the works of ministry by answering the questions

You're not allowed to ask. We're your host harrison kerrigan pastor tim mullet and today we'll answer the age -old question

Do I really have to say lord willing now tim as we kick this episode off?

What bible verse do you have for us related to the phrase lord willing? Yes, so the natural place to go is james 4 13 through 16

Which says 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 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?

Instead you ought to say if the lord wills who will live and do this or that as it is you boast in your arrogance

All such boasting is evil. So there you go Okay, so a pretty uh open and shut case just say

If if the lord wills every time right, right, there you go All right, pretty short episode, huh?

That's it man. All right, let's back it up okay, okay, but You know, I I think a lot of people they read a verse like that and then they think well

I've i've unlocked the cheat code. I figured out the magic formula to Get whatever

I want. I just have to say lord willing. Is that is that what this this bible verse is saying?

Yeah, so well, I guess people have a lot of different reactions to this and I mean I um I mean,

I suppose like a lot of people critique the idea that you should actually say this phrase or something, you know comparable a lot of people critique the idea that you should say this phrase by appealing to The the principle that you you're mentioning essentially.

I mean the idea that just you're parroting some kind of Empty phrase, you know, isn't this kind of similar to what jesus is talking about with his vein repetitions or empty phrases?

Like I guess it is actually important that you mean what you say that you're not just kind of Saying empty phrases just because you're told to say them or something along those lines.

So a lot of people they do Have that kind of reaction as if anything you know part of what what's happening is there's there's a

Critique that's being made against anything that may feel ritualistic or formulaic

And I certainly when you pray, I mean a lot of people will pray in jesus name. We pray. Amen, right?

They'll say they'll say something along those lines and then they they really have no idea why they're saying that, right?

It's just something that they've been taught to say as they pray. So they'll say in jesus name. I pray amen

Not really even understanding theologically what's happening there So, I mean when you say in jesus name,

I pray amen what you are saying you're making a profound theological statement You're saying that the only way I have access to the father is by virtue of what jesus did on the cross so that you know god doesn't just um

Like treat my prayers as if they're an abomination or something along those lines He hears my prayers because of what jesus did and i'm i'm appealing to his sacrifice on my behalf as my only means of Reconciliation with the father and doing that so a lot of people they may not

Really even know Why they're saying a phrase like that in jesus name. I pray amen, you know, they may not even know why they're

I I would think that you know, lord willing is a little more intuitive but it can be this thing you just throw out in some kind of Superstitious way or something and I think a lot of people like like a reverse psychology on god

Yeah, maybe like it's a good luck charm or something like that. Um in the similar way that you know people

Yeah, I mean people treat prayer You know before a meal or something like that Like if you don't pray before a meal then you're gonna get a stomach ache or you know

The food will be poisoned or something along those lines. Everyone's gonna get sick So you got to cover your bases and make sure you pray in order to you know

Because there may be some like hex or something on you If you don't you know kind of thing and so then people could treat this phrase like that like if you don't say it, it's like some kind of superstitious thing you say just to make sure that You're covering your bases.

So god doesn't have some excuse just uh completely and totally mess up your plan, you know, so You know,

I think people joke around about it along those lines too like meaning Oh, well, you didn't say lord willing remember when you said that ha ha you didn't say lord willing now everything got messed up and you know,

I think there's certainly some truth to the fact that um, you know, maybe god can ironically arrange your you know providence in such a way that uh

As a teaching tool to help you to remember to acknowledge him and your your plans, you know uh and bring those things to mind when you didn't you know, so but I I certainly like god's not like a

Petty and vindictive tyrant that's like just looking to get you, you know kind of thing or something along those lines

But then people people can treat it like a magical talisman to ward off disaster or something like that But that isn't really what's happening in the verse for sure

Yeah, so so does that mean I guess If people are using it if there are some people who are using it as a sort of you know like you said a good luck charm or Like a hey if I you know

God is my magic genie and if I say the magic the magic password, then he'll give me what

I want Uh, there are people who treat it that way so then does that mean that it's better to just to not say the phrase and and As long as I know

I I mean the phrase in my heart then there's no value in actually saying it out loud and in fact, it might even be better if I don't say it out loud lest I be the

The lamp rubbing christian Yeah, I mean most people are antinomians So when they come to passages like this, they they don't really have a category for just treating these passages in a pretty straightforward way so most people are antinomian and they really um

They really don't understand How god's commands are meant to form are meant to you know form your character and form your heart

So then they'll treat pretty much any kind of command that you're going to find in the bible

As if it's kind of a suggestion, right? Or or they'll they'll do do what you're saying

They'll treat it almost as if like the intention behind every command Is not the act itself, but just your heart so to speak, right?

Right. So like as long as your heart is in the right place There is a kind of you know

Quote unquote your heart's in the right place like there's a kind of christian who will Basically feel free to ignore

Anything the bible says right to actually do Because they don't want to be legalistic and so like in their mind in their mind the it would be

Better just to ignore what god says Than it is to embrace the fact that he tells you actually to do certain things that he wants you to do

So there's a I think a lot of people there's there's a profound kind of misunderstanding about how the heart

You know interfaces if you want to put it that way with the behavior Like meaning there's a connection between your heart and your behavior and your words

And a lot of people get it precisely opposite, you know, so they think like as long as their heart's in the right place like that's the end like commands like this, the only intention of this is just to Tell you to get your heart in the right place and then whether or not you rigidly follow it or something like that It's really immaterial.

It's irrelevant so long as you your heart is right, you know, but then the part of the problem is that Like when you think about a passage like this, this is not

Doing that, okay Like what do you mean? Right? So let's read it again.

Let's read it again Verse 13, right? It says 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 so notice like there is There's a commentary on a manner of speech, right?

So basically james is looking at them and saying hey you who say this thing, right? Like come now you who say such thing you say this thing and he gives like a specific manner of communication, right?

And then he gives a critique he says so you say hey today or tomorrow We're going to go into such a such a place and spend a year there and try to make a profit

So he's looking at that and he's saying hey, there's something wrong with what you just said Okay, right, right.

So he so he's he's basically saying hey Yet he says yet you uh, yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring right?

For what is your life you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes So he basically says like like you come now you who?

Basically say like dogmatically declare your future plans like you you're saying this like that you're going to do this in the future

And he's saying but you don't know what tomorrow will bring for what is your life? You're a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes, right?

So you could die right like you could die today. You don't like there's no like If you're saying hey, yeah tomorrow we're going to do this thing.

You may not be even be around right? You're just your your life is a vapor. It's a it's a mist like god's in god's sovereign.

He's in control. He could Like his appointed number of days for you could end tomorrow, right?

So he's looking at him and he's saying you're you're you're saying like you're going to do something in a very confident way

But then you should realize you you don't know what a day will bring right? But then what he says is instead, you know verse 15 you ought to say right?

So instead of saying what you're saying you ought to say this right if the lord wills we will do this or do that, right?

And then he says as it is you boast in your arrogance all such boasting is evil so basically he's saying that Like when you communicate like dogmatically communicate these plans

That you're going to do and you leave god's sovereignty out of it Like what what he's saying is you're boasting in your arrogance.

Like that's what your words are doing You're boasting in your arrogance about what you're going to do like not

Keeping in mind that god can come in and mess up your plans, right? And so yeah,

I mean the critique is on what their words are, right? So like they're they're making these plans without any reference to god's sovereignty whatsoever

And he tells them what they ought to say, you know, and I don't think it's meant to be like an exact formula

That you must follow because he says instead you ought to say if the lord wills we will live and do this or that Like meaning it's it's what it's meant.

Like that's not That's not like a phrase you should say every time right? Like if the lord wills we will do this and we would do this or do that What it's meant to be is it's meant to be

A pattern of communication that should actually show up in your words, right? So like we should like if the lord wills we will live and we will do

X or y or z, you know, whatever those x or y or z Like you should model your speech after what he's telling you to model after instead of like the way he's criticizing which leaves god's sovereignty and god's

Uh plans out of it, right? So I I think that like the issue is like most people are looking at this kind of passage and they're saying hey

All that matters is that your heart's in the right place But his critique is actually very different his critique is saying

When you communicate with your words like these dogmatic plans without reference to god's sovereignty

You're boasting and that's wrong and you ought to include god's sovereignty In the way that you're wording this, right?

Right. So like you ought to you ought to acknowledge like that like if god wills Uh will do this or that like you ought to acknowledge that in in in your manner of speaking

And so like the idea though is to say that you like this is actually Something he's putting forward to you as a kind of communication that you should follow, right?

Not like an optional thing like this isn't like an optional thing. This is something you should do you should speak like this um, and so like the issue is like, um

In the bible over and over again say out of the heart the mouth speaks, right? Yeah, so if you make like here's the thing if you make a pattern of just like In a lazy way just saying hey

Yeah, tomorrow we're going to do this and do that and you don't mention god's sovereignty and that at all

What's happening is you're training your heart to expect that there will be a tomorrow, right? Like in your so what's happening is your words are revealing within your heart

That's what the bible will say as the man thinks in his heart. So is he right like the good treasure of a good

Uh good treasure of a good heart brings forth good right an evil man with the evil treasure of an evil heart brings forth evil

Out of the heart of the mouth speaks like what comes out will reveal what your heart is like so the kind of person who really does like have in the forefront of their heart

That god is sovereign over everything god hasn't promised me tomorrow, right? I don't know what a day will bring

They're going to speak like that, right? Yeah, and the kind of person who doesn't have that in the forefront of their mind

Isn't going to speak like that They're going to boast in their arrogance And so, you know, it's amazing like when you think about this topic in general because so many people they refuse to speak

In the way that james is telling them to speak right here Like in they in you know, if if you if you say hey, you should say lord willingly.

Yeah. No, I know that you know I don't think they have to say it every time or something like that But part of the problem is that it like how many christians do you know that every single time they go through a trial?

What are they asking? Like get me out of this get me out of this why me, you know, how could why me?

How could god allow this right? Like, uh, You know, I don't know what he's trying to show me in this, you know kind of thing, right?

And all that like it just shows like like that's this almost Like every christian every professing christian

I know when they go through any kind of difficult situation. They're confused. They're befuddled, right? They have no idea why god would do this.

Like why is this happening? Why me? What is god trying to teach me through this, you know? I don't know what he's trying to tell me

And what that tells you is they don't think like this like right? And the issue is they don't really speak like this too, right?

Like the issue is they don't think like this because they have a pattern of communication in in their life, right?

Which is they don't acknowledge these things, right? So, you know, they don't acknowledge on a regular basis.

Hey, you know lord willing we're gonna Go to the park tomorrow, right? like they don't they don't speak like that and so you know the

Main temptation I think that most people experience in life really is they do experience the temptation to think

That god has promised them a long life a healthy life Like most people think that they're going to live into their 80s or 90s and that's just going to be the way it is

Most people think that they're gonna like their kids are going to bury them Not that they're going to have to bury their kids, right?

Most people think that yeah, I mean You know, most men probably think that like their wife is going to outlive them

They're not going to have like anything bad happening. Like they're not going to have cancer. They're not going to have um, um

You know some kind of degenerative brain condition or whatever else most people aren't thinking yeah You know what?

I may get alzheimer's or dementia or something like that That's on the radar for me. That could be on the radar for me.

Like no one is thinking Yeah, you know what? Maybe my kids can get kidnapped, you know, maybe they'll get kidnapped.

Maybe that's part of god's plan I'm not promised tomorrow, right? I'm not promised a long healthy happy life

With them so most people they're not thinking that every day that they've received from god is a gift

And they're not counting their blessings every day, right? Like they take for granted that their life is going to go in a pretty normal way.

Just like most people's lives go and When you know god interrupts those plans

They're just totally baffled and confused and the reason why they're totally baffled and confused

Is because they didn't learn the lesson that james wants them to learn right? Which is like how you train your heart like you train your heart to get ready for trials by Constantly reminding yourself that god hasn't promised you tomorrow, right?

Right. So like that's I think that's the message there for sure So do you think that someone is in sin if they don't say it out loud if they don't say if the lord wills or lord?

willing something along those lines are they in sin or they Are they um Breaking breaking the command that james is given here.

Yeah, I mean he's clearly I mean, I think james is clearly saying You ought to say if the lord wills we will live and do this or that And so he's he's he's not just saying you need to secretly think that your heart he's saying you ought to say if the lord wills we will do this or do that and And you know as it is you boast in your arrogance

And all such boasting is evil so what he's saying is like if you If you just basically say put it out there and you say it and like that that's a boastful claim that you're making

So, I mean you have to think about what he's actually critiquing, right? And what he's actually critiquing is not like some hidden heart attitude.

He's critiquing words, right? Right he's saying that like these words right out of the heart of the mouth speak these words reveal this about your heart, right?

And so I would say that yeah your words reveal what was in your heart And and so I I do think like god wants you to acknowledge like In in I mean just look at how people respond to trials and you'll see that they're not good at it, right?

They aren't good at this, right? like at all, you know, this is the People come to counseling and they you just you know, man, like they're going through a trial

They have no idea why it's happening. They have no theology of trials because they've never Like spent any significant amount of time

Like reminding themselves that they're not promised tomorrow and if the lord will still do this or that like this isn't something they really believe right um

It's something that I mean they know deep down, you know, yeah hypothetically, but you know, probably probably it's not going to happen but um, yeah, no,

I I think it's it's it um, Yeah, I I think people I think to fail to acknowledge god in your

Future plans is boasting by definition And god's saying that all such boasting

Is evil, you know, so sure. Yeah Now, do you think go keep going keep going?

It's fine. Yeah uh, so do you think then that the person on the flip side of it the person who says

Who who is saying that phrase thinking in their mind as long as I say this i'm gonna god's gonna give me what

I want Because i'm obeying him or you know, um, it's essentially this the secret

The secret password that'll give me whatever I want. Do you think that they are? uh also in sin or is that a is that like a maybe a lesser violation somehow, but not necessarily sin, because they are at least

Willing to Say the say the thing that's been commanded to say Yeah, I mean, you know every moral action has different components so I mean there is the behavior component of every moral action and then there's like The heart behind it the motivation behind it.

So I mean you could think of passages in scripture where like the heart is

Quote unquote the heart is in the right place so to speak but then the behavior is wrong and that isn't like sufficient, right?

So you think about something like as a steadying the ark, I mean i'm sure that that's a pretty good desire He had to keep the ark from falling on the ground

But it was a bad action, right? So god, right god Gave instructions in the law about how the ark was to be transported.

So in that instance you have like a good Quote unquote a good heart right like a good motivation

With a bad action, you know, but then you can think about um Things along the the opposite end of things

So I mean like the situation you'd be describing would be a situation where you have a good action With a bad heart, right?

so Sure. I mean, yeah, I don't think either one is ultimately Praiseworthy at all.

All right. I mean like it's not completely praiseworthy. I mean most like but then the issue is like what makes this complicated is that yeah,

I mean most of the time I would say are Like god's gonna judge the secrets of our heart one day

And I would say that most of the things that we do In obedience to god probably have a bunch of different hidden motives which are sneaky or wrong or you know not

Wonderful. Does that make sense? Right? Yeah. I mean even on our best days. I mean, I think like we're complicated

I mean I I you know, you can think about everything i've ever done that was Probably good or praiseworthy and you could pick it apart and I think there were good motives there and there are bad motives there

You know and got one of the god's gonna sort it all out. But I mean, I think with most things in life Yeah, I would certainly rather a person do the right thing in most areas of life

Even if they're there's some weird motives underneath the surface, right? So I mean just Yeah, I mean

I would rather you not go through with that plan to shoot up the school Right It was like if someone were to um, like If you have some like crazy plan or something like that To murder a bunch of people and then you don't go through with it for the wrong reasons or something

It's like well i'd rather you do the right action with the wrong But Then just just just well, you know

I don't know that I have a good motive here for not doing it, you know So I just might i've already failed so I might as well just go all the way with it

You know and a lot of people think that way like as if in the reason why people think that way is because there's this

Big push in our culture and society to be authentic, you know and then authenticity is like seen as a virtue and so then like if you you know, if you're

Doing the right thing with you know um In an inauthentic way. It's almost seen as like worse than you know

Like you might as well just go ahead and do the wrong thing or something like that. It's like well that isn't really moral Yeah, I don't feel

I don't feel like i'm going to like i'm in the right place to go to church and worship god today

So I better just not go at all, right? I mean a lot of people like for a lot of people that kind of thing makes sense

And I would say that you know, the only way you're going to train your heart To love the right thing for the right reason is to do it regardless of how you feel, right?

And then you make a habit of doing it regardless of how you feel and then then you that's the way you train your heart

Right. It's like you don't just surrender just because your heart's not in the right place or something like that It's like well the bible says that god loves a cheerful giver and you know,

I don't really want to give this money right now because everything's tight and You know, so I think i'm have the temptation to give it grudgingly.

So i'm just not going to give it at all It's like wait, you just give it man Like give it and ask god to cleanse your heart right and change your heart, you know

So I think there's plenty of things like that where people, you know, their motives may not be wonderful But I mean,

I think the thing is like the situation you're mentioning is not really a realistic scenario

Like in the main like meaning like people who really train themselves to think this way like and say it like they believe it you know because it isn't just intuitively easy to Like always bring that up, you know

So, I mean I think in the main the people who have the most success in Keeping that like in actually saying it are people who are intentionally trying to bring that in the forefront of their mind

In order to remind themselves that they're not promised tomorrow and that all such boasting is evil You know, so I mean

I there there was I mean during our first, um you know my wife's first pregnancy or whatever

I I remember like we would just talk on and on and on about like when the baby comes and we're going to do this

And we're going to do this and all that and I mean we we talk that way, you know We we we we talk that way and you know at a certain point

I I just like looked at her and I was like we we really need to stop talking this way Like we're not promised a healthy delivery, you know

Like there were not promised a problem -free delivery. I mean you may not survive this the kid, you know Our our son may not survive this like we're not promised any of this, you know

I'm not trying to be morbid or creepy or something, but we just We need to adjust our wording here, you know, because we're just taking it for granted that This is going to happen.

I mean it was amazing Yeah, and it's amazing in her delivery The cord was wrapped around his neck and you know

The doctor came in 10 minutes later and say that said to us that he may like die or have significant brain damage

And I know that like in that moment We had been preparing for Like the reality that we're not promised tomorrow and that our plans may not go what like they they should

And it wasn't like totally destabilizing to us. It was a thought that entered into our brain, right?

that like we're not promised an easy delivery and then when our our son was in the Nicu for a week

On a cooling bed, you know With the possibility of severe brain damage we weren't thinking.

Oh, man, like How could god do that because we had reminded ourself just like the scripture told us if the lord wills

You know, he'll come and he'll be healthy and you'll have a delivery and you'll you know Survive this and all this kind of stuff, you know and so I think a lot of people they don't really want to step into that because that just sounds negative and Eeyore and depressing and You know, oh, you know don't bring that up, you know and people can even be superstitious about that, you know

Like don't speak that evil on us In the charismatic, you know, don't don't manifest that Yeah, but I mean the reality is like If if you want to handle trials

Well, which james is a book on how to handle trials among other things if you want to handle trials Well, you better start acknowledging like that.

You may face one, right? Right with your words Instead of pretending like it can never happen, right?

So yeah fair enough. Yeah. Yeah, so I guess um As my final question

Do we have to say it every time like should my expectation for myself be

I in every um In every

Thing that I speak where it would be applicable to say if the lord wills or lord willing

I must say it. Is that the The expectation I should have for myself or should

I have should I have a uh you Don't even don't even let them get the rest of it out.

It's just yes that that that's what you need to do Okay, so what is the opposite? I mean, you know the opposite is going to be like hey, what about 80 percent of the time?

I mean, I think 50 percent of the time he's saying he's giving you a critique, you know And the critique is you know come now

Who uh you who say today or tomorrow will go into such and such town spend a year there and try to make a profit, right?

So the critique is like the person who's basically making these plans like these future plans dogmatically declaring what they're going to do, right?

uh without any reference to like god's providence in that right that god's providence could interrupt that and he's saying

Instead you ought to say if the lord wills we're going to carry out these plans we're talking about right? As it is you boast in your arrogance all such boasting is evil.

So I do think yeah, he's saying that to fail to acknowledge god's sovereignty in your plans

Is boasting and arrogance, right? so I mean he is he is making a critique on the words is this doesn't just reduce to like a

A critique on their hidden motivations or something like that, right? I mean he could have said come now you who think like he could have said that right come now you who think

That today or tomorrow we're going to go and do all this stuff, right? But it's not a critique on what they think it's a critique on what they're saying, right?

So I do think I do think that they ought to include like some acknowledgement and I mean

I don't think the text is meant to tell you like like it must be this exact formula because he says As it is you ought to say if the lord wills we will live and do this or that I mean you have to communicate

You know with words, right? So there's not like some like you're not supposed to communicate that in greek or something you're going to be in sin or like that exact expression like but I do think like you need to in some way communicate like make like with your words like I'm not promised tomorrow like so I need to be communicating that with my words if the lord wills, you know lord willing, um, you know um

Yeah, yeah, you know Yeah, definitely unless god, you know, unless I get in a wreck man i'll be there, you know, unless god messes up, you know

Unless I get in a wreck or get in the hospital or you know, I don't know what i'll be there you can count on me, you know, unless some supernatural act of god's providence comes and You know, and I mean

I sometimes will say Silly things like that, but I mean I I am trying to communicate with my words that yeah lord willing will do it

Yeah, sure so I think the more I think that um Yeah, god god doesn't want us to not just simply

Throw out this confident expectation that we're promised tomorrow, you know communicate that with our words.

I think we're supposed to make Plans in light of the fact that god is sovereign for sure. Yep yeah, and I guess that does make sense and and when you consider the the wider context of James where he's very much focused on Um not a not a faith that is inward only but a faith that um

Produces action and produces good fruit, you know, and and so so that does that does make a lot of sense to say.

Hey Like how could james? How could james say all of this about you know dead?

um You know show show me your faith Uh by your words and i'll show them by my by my actions essentially right and and he has such a such a large focus on um

You know a living faith which involves Good fruit, right meaning you're you are actively doing things.

You're actively performing actions That that fall in line with the commands given by god, right?

Yeah. Yeah, it's not hidden Um, so how could he how could he possibly mean well, this is this one's a heart issue only

You know, well that's clearly I mean now whatever you say It's clearly doesn't renew like this passage clearly doesn't reduce to just like as long as your heart is in the right place

You know you do whatever now I mean if you want to treat it as like a generality like god's just you know, generally wanting you to do that Because he obviously doesn't expect you to be perfect or something like that and I would say well

I don't know about that presupposition there, but I mean at least that makes a little at least you're in the realm of like Hey, I should take this somewhat serious

Like you should generally speak this way. This should be the pattern of your life or something like that now I mean, I I would question that presupposition that you that I just threw out there, you know

But I mean certainly this is a critique on words, right? It is a critique on words It's not a critique on the hidden thoughts of the heart, you know

It's a critique on words and he's telling you that you should speak like this. And so I think yeah, we should speak like that You know, so Pretty simple, you know

Speak like he's telling you to speak. Yeah, you have to you have to talk like that You're right Because if you don't you're boasting and you know a lot of people don't and then when trials come a big shock, you know, they're shocked and surprised and how could god and They hadn't budgeted for it man because they didn't train themselves with their words to be ready for it

Right Okay, well I think that's a good place for us to wrap up the episode on so Tim, thank you for answering all my questions and you know, hopefully this is something that we all

Consider more often. I mean, especially living in a where where we live here in america and christians and you know

In most first world countries, if not all first world countries I think we're all tempted to we're all tempted to think like you've mentioned earlier

Hey, i'm gonna live to my 70s my 80s my 90s. Maybe i'll live to be a hundred years old um

My my kids are gonna bury me. I'm not gonna have to bury any of my kids You know, i'm probably gonna die before my spouse dies uh

I mean i'm not budgeting for what happens if I get into a car wreck going this way or that way nothing we're not typically thinking any anything like that, uh, and so Uh, you know in my mind it seems like we are the we are the types of christians that probably need to be the

If anyone's going to take this incredibly serious in terms of actually saying Something something that acknowledges god's sovereignty

Over our lives and the fact that we don't actually really have that much control at all over what happens to us

It should probably be us, you know the first world kind of christians who are not used to facing a lot of persecution and um significant,

I mean obviously we can we can still face significant trials in our lives, but You know part of part of what's been such a great blessing to living in a first world country is that you know we we are truly sheltered from a lot of trials that People have faced throughout all of human history up to this point um, and so But then the the downside to that is that once the trials do come we're typically woefully unprepared for them and so we should if anyone's going to take this seriously as like a

Hey, we you really do need to literally speak this way. It should probably be us.

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