Do Not Be Anxious About Tomorrow

"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

“Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:25-34 ESV)

Lately the Lord has been having me write these daily devotions a week in advance, so I am actually writing this on Friday, September 27, 2024, at 1:57 a.m. USA EST. And right now the eastern/middle part of our country has been hit with a major hurricane, according to the news media, which is supposed to wreak havoc here in S Carolina sometime later this morning, not directly, but we are supposed to get a lot of high winds and rain and maybe even some tornadoes, and they are saying we should stay home.

In times like these we think about possibly losing our power (electricity) and water and food supplies, or about where we will go if we get hit directly with winds strong enough to do major damage to our dwelling place. So I find it really interesting that Matthew 6:33 was the verse for the day on “Bible Gateway .com,” for the Lord will sometimes have me write devotions from whatever passage of Scripture contained their verse for the day, but not always. And what is jumping out at me here is “Do not be anxious..”

And this isn’t just about possible storm damage, is it? This is about life, in general. We should not be people who worry about anything. Now this does not mean we sit around and do nothing and become lazy gluttons while expecting God to do everything for us and to supply our every need. We still need to work, if we are physically or mentally able, and to follow the leading of the Lord with our lives, and to do his will and his calling upon our lives. 

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).

[John 15:1-11; 1 Corinthians 15:58; 2 Corinthians 9:8; Galatians 5:6; Ephesians 2:8-10; Philippians 2:12-13; Colossians 1:9-14; 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12; 2 Timothy 2:21; Titus 2:11-14; Titus 3:8; James 2:17] 

So, we work for the Lord, according to his will and purpose for our lives, and in his power and strength, but we don’t stress over the details. We trust that the Lord will provide for our every need as long as we are following him in walks of obedience to his commands. We trust that he will guide and direct us every step of the way with regard to what we are to do next, and where we are to go, and what we are to do when we get there. And this is how I operate each day with regard to what the Lord has me write.

And God is absolutely amazing in how he directs my path each day, and in how he leads and directs me, sometimes in the simplest of ways, in order to show me what passages of Scripture to read, and the lesson that he would want me to get out of it and then to share with others. Sometimes he will even plant a cockroach or a beetle or a slug or a spider, or whatever, just where he wants them at a specific time in order to give me a real life parable from them to teach me what he wants me to learn from the Scriptures.

And sometimes there are things I am going through in my personal life and the Scripture passage for that day will speak directly to that situation and will give me guidance and direction in knowing what to do and how to respond. But I know the Lord is always going before me and preparing the way for whatever he has for me each day. And no matter what he takes me through, I know that he is completely sovereign over my life and my circumstances, and he is going to use it all for my ultimate good.

So, if our trust is really in the Lord Jesus, we should not be anxious and worried about anything, but we should take every concern that we have before the Lord in prayer and then trust him to show us what he wants us to do, and then trust him to work it all out for our good. But this means that we must seek first and foremost God/Christ and his kingdom and his righteousness, and then God will provide us with what we need to do his will. And this means that we need to obey our Lord in all things.

So, we are not to be anxious about tomorrow, for actually, we have little to no control over what might come upon us, even in the next seconds or minutes. But we do need to make certain that our hearts are right with the Lord, that we are walking in his ways, in obedience to his commands, in holy living, in his power, and that we are no longer walking in deliberate and habitual sin against our Lord and against our fellow humans. For any one of us could die at any moment, and not everyone is going to heaven, not even all who profess faith in Jesus Christ. So get your heart right with God.

[Matt 7:21-23; Lu 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Titus 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10; 1 Pet 2:24; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2]

‘Til The Storm Passes By

By Thomas Mosie Lister

In the dark of the midnight have I oft hid my face

While the storm howls above me, and there's no hiding place

'Mid the crash of the thunder, Precious Lord, hear my cry

Keep me safe till the storm passes by

Many times Satan whispered

There is no use to try

For there's no end of sorrow, there's no hope by and by

But I know Thou art with me, and tomorrow I'll rise

Where the storms never darken the skies

Till the storm passes over, till the thunder sounds no more

Till the clouds roll forever from the sky

Hold me fast, let me stand in the hollow of Thy hand

Keep me safe till the storm passes by

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_obOSQoOpQ

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