#63 Do Not Prescribe to God the Time or the Method of using the World’s Things

Yet man does not find out or discover what God has done, etc. That is: Man cannot know, even if he torments himself, when God wants to do him good, when He wants to start or to stop, just as no one, regardless of how he works at it, can investigate or identify the hour when someone is to be born, to live, or to die. Therefore one should say: “Lord, it is up to Thee to give future things; meanwhile I shall enjoy the life that is present and that has already been given by Thee.” Thus also the other activities of life which he has just cataloged lie outside the power of man. For if this were placed in the hands of men, many would always be waging war, while others would always be playing or building; for there are many who labor at this. The whole world is ours. Only let us not prescribe to God the time or the method of using it. “I refuse to be measured by your counsels,” says God; “otherwise everything will belong to you, including Me.” (Luther’s Works, v.15 p.54)