I had a conversation with my oldest son this past week about
the meaning of the phrase, "The good Lord willing and if the creek don't
rise." I've heard that phrase all of my life and never really thought
about it. For us it always meant that if the water in the creek (crick or
stream) got high it would prevent you from traveling.
I did quite a bit of searching and found there is no
agreement as to the source of the phrase, nor what is the true meaning of the
phrase. One of the more colorful claims is that Colonel Benjamin Hawkins
(1754-1816) first penned these words. It is said that he wrote in response to a
request from President Washington to travel to the capital. It is supposed to
have been written in reference to The Creek Indian Nation; so if The Creek rose
up, he would be unable to leave his post. I like this explanation, but there
doesn't seem to be enough evidence to prove it conclusively.
To tell you the
truth I think I still prefer the local concept of the saying referring to the
local streams (creeks) raising and preventing travel, especially in the times
of storms. Living in the Mid-West we have seen many of those this year and
many, many creeks overflowing their banks.
Of course it is
the first part of the saying which is really important isn't it. It follows the concept
found in James 4:13-15 of God being
in control of our world. Notice what James writes:
"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.'"
There
is no questioning of the fact that storms often come into our lives. The thing
about storms is that you can never completely plan for them in advance. Their
intensity varies greatly with each occurrence; they are simply never the same. The
truth of the matter is that the only way you can survive is truly trusting in
The Lord. We live in an uncertain world and as James says, you ought to say, 'If it is the
Lord's will, we will live and do this or that.'"
I
don't know about you, but I still have a problem in putting that into practice.
So often I plan my plans in infinite detail and then pray that The Lord will
allow things to work out as I have planned. We (and I) need to learn to involve
God in our plans from the very start, before we put the first line on our to do
list or our itinerary.
I
pray that things go as you plan in your life, "The Good Lord willing and if the creek don't rise!"
