“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow willworry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Matthew 6:34
The future is just a thousand right nows lined up in a row. So, why does the soul look so much to the future and what is maybe to come? We lose hours of sleep and our appetites worrying about the event of later or tomorrow.
This used to be me. As a teenager I would lay awake at night stressing about a test the next day or wondering what a pretty girl might say if I got up the nerve to ask her out (never did). As a young man serving in the USAF I would worry about the amount of work and stress of the job to come. As a father I found my weakness – my kids. I would worry about every little thing. Why?
We line up our stresses in a row then, those stresses don’t behave and stay in nice lines, they all crowd to the front of the line.
Why? We say we believe God is God and God of all. But, we still want to try to order things ‘properly.’ We think that we have to do this or that to make things go right. We have to pray just right or do specific actions so God can care for us or our loved ones.
This all came to a head for me during a medical crisis with my daughter. It was fairly early on in her illness. She had an event that had me rush her to the ER. The doctors order an emergency CT. As I sat in the waiting room while they did the CT, I prayed. “God do this and that”. Mostly, ‘touch the end of Your cloak to her and heal her.’ I had been losing sleep for weeks with worry of the next crisis and of working a fulltime job, being a husband and a dad of three other teens. My prayer just exuded stress. God had me take a breath from my own stresses to talk to a young mom in the waiting room who was waiting for her child who had cancer. I said all the right things about trusting God and prayer (they say “those who can’t, teach). I leaned back after she stepped out of the waiting room and thought over the words she said, “God gives us grace for today.” Somehow these words didn’t seem right in that moment. As I sat reflecting, God spoke to my heart, “I give you the grace not for the day but to take this breath, my son.”
“Cast all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7
This was a lesson on trust that God was giving me in those months of trial. How much do we worry about what is to come or what tomorrow brings? More then it’s worth for sure. We spend sleepless nights worrying about these things. When it really comes down to trusting God.
This is the greatest lesson I learned from all those months of stress and a lifetime of stresses – “Jesus, I trust in You.” You are in the moment you’re in by God’s design. You can guarantee God is there with you in this moment – the God of yesterday and tomorrow, Who knows ALL things to come is there in this ‘right now’ moment. Take the next breath. Breath in and Him for the abundant grace of now; breath out the worry of tomorrow.
“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7
“Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you” Psalm 55:22