"Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your Heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today." (Mt.6:31-34)
How often have we heard or read those words? We know them. We consider them sage advice. We say we want to live by them. And at various and sundry times we do--we actually obey Jesus' command not to worry and instead fix our focus firmly and trustingly upon Him. And, oh, when we truly relax into Him, when we press into Him, there's nothing that can shake our our peace or demolish our joy.
But the problem is that far too often we forget. We forget to trust. We forget to choose gratitude. We forget to reject worry in favor of worship. And we forget to redirect our focus from created things to the Creator of all things. Ironically, too, it's not so much the big crises of life that trip us up. Rather, it's often in the little daily, niggling concerns of life, that we allow our minds to wander and our hearts to fall into that worn-out, old rut of worrying and fretting.
Of course, this has never happened to me...at least not for the last 59 seconds or so. Sigh.
Where did worrying ever get us?! Seriously, when have our anxious thoughts or runaway emotions ever helped our children or our spouses or our health concerns or our financial woes or our relationship struggles? Has fretting ever made any kind of positive difference? Ever?
Nope. Worrying is nothing but a joy-thief and a peace-stealer.
And here's the thing--worrying is a CHOICE! We choose fretting...or trusting. We choose worrying...or worshipping. We choose rehearsing our woes...or remembering God's past faithfulness. We choose our thoughts and our focus just as surely as we choose the direction we turn our car's steering wheel. Will we turn toward trusting in our ever-faithful, Almighty God or will we turn toward indulging in our fearful "what if's?"
I love the way The Message paraphrases v.34: "Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes."
Amen! We choose (there's that word again) to give our "entire attention to what God is doing right now"--that means living fully and gratefully and joyfully in the present moment. Living in the river of God's grace and goodness today, right now. That's all any of us has anyway--this day. This hour. This moment. The Lord will always be more than enough for all that we need right now.
But then trusting that whatever comes tomorrow, our Great and forever faithful and eternally present, I Am, will be there too. And He will provide and equip and empower and sustain and redeem whatever tomorrow holds in store as well.
Here's how Dietrich Bonhoeffer put it: "Worry is always directed toward tomorrow. [Ain't that the truth?!] In the strictest sense, however, possessions are intended only for today. It is precisely the securing of tomorrow that makes me insecure today...Only those who place tomorrow in God's hands and receive what they need to live today are truly secure. Receiving daily liberates us from tomorrow. Thought for tomorrow delivers us up to endless worry."
"Give us this day, our daily bread," Jesus has taught us to pray. (Mt.6:11) Today's bread. Today's need. Today's gifts. Today's never-to-be-repeated opportunities to love and laugh, to reflect and rejoice.
Sure, we could all worry about tomorrow. Tomorrow's merciless "What if's." But doesn't all that worrying boil down to refusing to trust that God will be enough? Refusing to believe that God is infinitely greater than any of our imagined what if scenarios?
Yet has He ever failed to pull us through in the past? Sure, bad things have happened to all of us for we live in a fallen world, but the Lord is always higher, stronger, bigger, and greater. He who has brought us this far will not fail us in the future. And even if, even if the very worst happens, He will still be more than enough. If we need reminding, look to the cross. The worst--the absolute worst--ended up being a platform for a demonstration of God's absolute and most glorious best.
As the old hymn puts it, "Strength for today, and bright hope for tomorrow..." That's what He promises--today's strength. Today's provision. Today's grace for today's need. But not tomorrow's...not until tomorrow. Yet in the meantime, we have bright hope for tomorrow because we know, we know, we know that He is already there and will provide the strength and joy and love and grace we need tomorrow...when it is tomorrow.
So in the meantime, let's reject worry and relax in Him today. Let's rejoice in Him and His gifts today. Let's press in and press on in Him today. Let's love, enjoy, forgive, and serve those He's placed in our life today. And let's trust Him for tomorrow. He's got it anyway.
To God be the glory.
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