Many years ago (late 1970’s) I found myself in a place of uncertainty about the future. I was finishing a short term Bible College course and wanted to move into ministry. As I struggled with my impatience and questions I recognised my need to simply trust God and let Him be in control.
Once I settled on that direction I remembered a simple song I made up a few years earlier, when wondering what the future held for me.
“I don’t know what tomorrow may bring,
but I do know the One I’m trusting in.
I’ll go with Him where ever that be,
and I’ll love Him with all of my heart.”
The theme of my song has echoes of a song I heard in my youth, written by Ira Stamphill in 1950.
“Many things about tomorrow I don’t seem to understand
But I know who holds tomorrow And I know He holds my hand.”
For each of us ‘tomorrow’ has a lot of unknowns. We don’t know “what’s around the corner”. Our own experience, what we see in others and what we see in scripture reveal that life is rarely a straight line course, but a series of unexpected events which direct us or which we have to navigate.
The idea of nailing down tomorrow so we can have some certainty is tempting, but it’s somewhat vain as an expectation. If you need security you can’t be sure to find it in your careful planning or strong management skills.
The only way to have true security in your future is to trust yourself to God and to trust God in your situations. God does have everything under control. Nothing is impossible with God. God’s plans for you are good. God is ready to lead you and to protect you.
Your own ways are probably unwise to pursue, since the ways that seem right to a man lead to death. If you are one of those control-freaks who has to ensure you own security, then you are likely making wrong choices and going the wrong way, unless God is central in your planning.
And if you are operating out of fear or operating by the idea you can take charge of your life you are voiding your reliance on God, because reliance on God involves living by faith, not by fear or self-reliance.
The best way to face tomorrow is to walk into it confident God is with you, you are in God’s will, God has good things planned for you, all things will work together for your good and God will lead you and bless you.
Add to that your life-long commitment to live for God and to seek God’s Kingdom first of all, so all the other things you need are supplied to you.
If tomorrow fills you with fear then dig into those Bible verses declaring God’s love and care for you and His ability to keep and protect you. Stop doing things that would keep you from God’s best, humbly abandoning yourself on God and trusting Him, even if the winds and waves seem to be driving you in the wrong direction.
I loved the way our journey was described in Hannah Hurnard’s book Hinds’ Feet on High Places. The path that was supposed to lead to the high places turned away and into dark places. One could have thought they were on the wrong track. But those difficult ways did lead to the top of the mountain, and there were important lessons to learn along the way.
Remember Joseph being hated by his brothers, sold into slavery then falsely accused and imprisoned. That certainly didn’t look like the path to fulfilling Joseph’s dreams of being a ruler. Yet they were exactly the landmarks God had set in his journey to being second-in-command of Egypt.
You don’t know what tomorrow may bring, but you can be confident in the God. Go with Him where ever He leads you, and love Him with all of your heart. And let God lead you confidently and fruitfully through your Unknown Tomorrow.
Tags: faith, trusting god
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