Matthew 6:34
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.
Each day has enough trouble of its own.
When I would read this verse in my teen years/early twenties...back when the world seemed pretty rosy, I always pictured financial or physical provision. So, if I ever found myself in a situation where I had no money or food, God would give me enough for the day and then I could trust him with tomorrow. While this is true, and He has proven that he provides in amazing ways when we have financial difficulties, there is a new dimension to this verse that I had never considered.
No, I'm not claiming that I've received a new revelation! It's just that the verse several verses earlier (vs. 27) says "And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?" My question is, how do you do this when you have something that legitimately is something to worry about?
In America, our hardest financial situations have meant that we had to borrow money from our parents to make a payment or to get our car fixed. Not ideal, but this is by no means desperation. Or, when I say I have "no groceries", what I mean is I have a ton of cans of tomatoes in the cabinet, a large bag of rice, milk in the fridge, ranch dressing...etc. etc. I have food. It's not just the food I want to eat right then. I have been places in the world where the average person makes as much in a month as I spend on chapstick in a month. Our financial woes are really not what I would put in the "I should worry" category.
Disclaimer: I still worry about them. It's so easy for my lack of contentedness with what I have to transform itself into worry. This is sin in my heart that I need to confess to the Lord. My lack of faith is very much tied to my lack of gratitude, not necessarily to any great physical needs that I have.
So, the reason I was thinking about these verses is that there are things that we face that are tough and should cause anxiety. For example, I was thinking about Baby Jake the other day. He's fifteen months old now (crazy!). I was thinking about how I still have two months (or less!) before I get to meet baby Marcus. If you had told me when I walked out of that hospital, leaving the baby boy we had fallen in love with behind, that it would be seventeen months before God would allow me to hold another baby who would be mine, I probably would have struggled a lot more with anger and depression. Instead, I had hope that the desire to be a mom was a good one and from God and that He had a perfect plan. His perfect plan included two more losses, a surprise pregnancy, some puking, and having to wait and wait and wait. Not ideal, but when I look back at all of the grace he gave me during the tough days and the super exciting days, I recognize his provision was far greater than just a child. It was a journey of faith and testing and endurance. It has been daily lessons on being content with what I have and trusting God with the things that don't make sense. Looking back, it is all worth it.
Another example...my dear friend Kelsey. Kelsey just passed away a few weeks ago. She was 35 years old. She is with Jesus, but she left behind a wonderful husband and a four year old daughter. She left behind family and friends who dearly love her. It's been tough for me and yet for many, many others, it has been unbelievably painful and the journey is just beginning for Chris and Alexa.
Kelsey was diagnosed with epitheliod sarcoma in April of 2013. Through the next year and three months, she kept a blog which gave those who read it great ways to pray for her health, but also an unbelievable glimpse into her faith in the Lord. She was real and honest. She did not enjoy the pain or the fear, but yet she never turned away from God. She always went back to him.
A few days after she died, I decided to look back at the beginning of her journey via her blog. I was struck with what she posted as she was waiting to find out if the tumor in her arm was this extremely scary and deadly cancer, or if it was benign. She talked about trying not to worry; that her mind would automatically go to the worst case scenarios. Well, the worst happened. What she tried not to fear the most happened.
My first instinct when this thought struck me was to question the goodness of God. But, He immediately took me to Matthew 6:34. He is good. The next fifteen months of Kelsey's life were spent in a journey. Had she known what was coming, would she have been able to fight as hard? Would she have enjoyed the precious time she had left with Chris and Alexa? Would she have been able to find hope in Scripture? She assured me many times that God somehow gave her exactly the grace she needed for that day. And in an ultimate act of grace, God took her home. He fulfilled the promise of eternal life that she clung to. She is pain-free and worry-free. She is experiencing joy that we cannot even comprehend. And now He is giving Chris and Alexa the grace that they need for each day. They don't know the future, but God is gracious to provide each day what they need and He will do that every day for each one of us. It's a promise (read the rest of Matthew 6:25-34).
Last weekend, I drove to DFW to visit with friends. It was a girls' trip and so this meant a three hour road trip by myself. I immediately knew what I wanted to do with my time. Kelsey left a cd on my porch a couple of years ago when I was really suffering and going through a shocking and difficult time. She called it "Songs of Hope and Praise". It really ministered to me, but for some reason I never listened to it again until this past weekend. I got it out for my trip. The first track is a sermon about the goodness of God. The preacher said "There are no good or bad days, just days of grace. Some days it is the grace to endure and some days it is the grace to enjoy." What a truth! and Kelsey experienced that grace to endure in abundance. She ran her race victoriously, not because of anything within her, but because of the grace of God.
That is how we can face things that should make us worry and live in daily trust in God's perfect plan. He gives us enough for each day. His mercy is not to tell us our future, but to walk us through today with the knowledge that whatever it is that He has planned is worth it.
Hebrews 12:1-2
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
