A Certain Faith for an Uncertain Future

Mr. Jones received a call from his doctor’s office. The voice on the other end said, “Mr. Jones, I’m afraid I have some bad news. You only have twenty-four hours to live.” Stunned, Mr. Jones replied, “Twenty-four hours? Wow! What could possibly be worse than that?” The voice answered, “Well, Mr. Jones, we’ve been trying to get in touch with you since yesterday.”

The truth is, none of us knows what tomorrow holds. For that matter, we don’t even know what the rest of today holds. We make plans. We mark calendars. We schedule appointments weeks and months in advance. We talk about what we are going to do tomorrow as though tomorrow has already been promised to us. But it hasn’t.

James reminds us, “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow” (James 4:14). We know what we have planned for tomorrow, but we do not know what tomorrow has planned for us. That uncertainty can be frightening—unless our confidence rests in Someone who is already there.

Jesus addressed that very uncertainty in Matthew 6:25–34. He pointed His disciples to the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. The birds do not plant crops or fill barns, yet the Father feeds them. The lilies do not labor to make themselves beautiful, yet God clothes them. Jesus was not teaching irresponsibility or telling us never to plan for tomorrow. He was teaching us that we do not have to carry tomorrow’s worries today. If our heavenly Father knows the needs of birds and flowers, He certainly knows the needs of His children.

Jesus concludes, “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself” (Matthew 6:34). Tomorrow will have its own troubles, but it will also have tomorrow’s grace. God gives us what we need for today, today. When tomorrow becomes today, He will still be God, He will still be faithful, and He will still be there.

There’s an old hymn we used to sing that said, “Many things about tomorrow, I don’t seem to understand; but I know who holds tomorrow, and I know who holds my hand.” That is one of the great comforts of faith. God does not have to tell me what tomorrow holds when I know that tomorrow is in His hands.

I may not know what is coming, but I know who will be there with me. I may not understand tomorrow, but I can trust the God who is already there. Jesus never promised that tomorrow would be trouble-free; He taught us that we do not have to borrow tomorrow’s trouble and carry it today. Perhaps that is one of the great benefits faith offers us: peace does not come from knowing what happens next. Peace comes from knowing God. ©

–PGR