Ancient Ruins

This picture to the left was taken no more than a month ago, at a place called Herodian.  Herodian was once the location of an illustrious stronghold for Herod and some of his followers.  It was a massive fortress carved into the top of a mountain that included tunnels throughout the mountains to hide if there was ever any danger.  It really is a remarkable sight to behold.  Today, the fortress is but a heap of rubble, and guys like me go visit it so that we can take pictures of ourselves standing beside desolated columns.  As I stood in these ancient ruins, the haunting image of what once was emanated in the background of my mind.  People built these ruins, people lived in these ruins, and these people had no idea that their cities would become these ruins.

This morning, I was taking my dog for a walk and I began to think to myself, "What if my neighborhood became ruins?" or, "What if our cities became ruins?"  Who is to say that one day, in two thousand years, tourists from another country won't be visiting our little kingdoms, taking pictures of themselves by our ancient ruins, of things that once were, and all the while be thinking to themselves about the life that once was, which was us.  The answer is, "nothing."  Like Herodian, our houses, offices, and lives may be nothing but ancient ruins one day, and we will be nothing but a vapor of the life that once was.  Who knows, the columns on our front porches may be the center of a photograph in a couple thousand years.  The place we call home may become a mere tourist attraction.  Like the civilians in Herodian, we simply cannot comprehend such an event.

The Pastor James once wrote, "Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.  You are just a vapor that appears for a little while then vanishes away" (James 4:14).

This kind of verse really helps bring life into perspective.  The truth is, we really don't know what our lives will be like tomorrow.  On Monday, January 11, the Haitians had no idea that a 7.0 earthquake would devastate their country and lives on the following day; on August 28, 2005, the New Orleans residents had no idea that their levees would be destroyed, and that the city that they called home for hundreds of years would be flooded; and on September 10, 2001, the United States had no idea that our lives would be changed forever, introducing a new understanding of terrorism and persecution that we had never experienced before.  On each event, millions of people's lives were changed forever, and nobody knew that it was coming--nobody that is, except for God.

After James shares with his dispersed congregation that their lives are but a vapor, he encourages them in saying, "Instead, you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that'" (James 4:15).  The idea that James is trying to portray is that even though our lives are but a vapor, God's life is not, and if we really want to make our vapor meaningful, we ought to live according to His will.  You see, it's not about our lives, but God's life.  It's not about our will, but God's will.  I think this is the message that James is trying to portray.  It is like the good ol' saying that I only hear my older professors say, "If the good Lord willin' and the creek don't rise."

Job said in Job 7:7, "Remember that my life is but breath."  Solomon said in Ecclesiastes "Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!" (Ecclesiastes 1:1)  The biblical ancients knew well what their life was.  Both Job and Solomon came to the conclusion that God is the most important decision man can make.  Somehow, we have lost this understanding.  Instead, we think that our lives are the center of the universe.  Instead of a vapor, we are the sea.  Instead of a breath, we are a mighty wind, and instead of understanding vanity, we are the ones who have become vain.

Today, I encourage everyone to come to this understanding: "God is, and we are not."  This truth is best expressed in Exodus 3, when God appeared to Moses in a burning bush.  God told Moses to go set His people free.  Moses said, "'I will tell them that the God of your fathers has sent me to you.'  Now they will say to me, 'What is His name?' What shall I say to them?" (Exodus 3:13).  God told Moses, tell them that "I AM" has sent you.

Praise God that even though we don't know what tomorrow holds, we know that God holds tomorrow, and more importantly, He holds today.