When i don't know anymore

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

            Humans wisdom has its limitations. Even where wisdom might succeed it is frustrated by other aspects of human finitude. That is to say there must and shall come times when we say of necessity, “I do not know what else I might do.” Our unnatural nature of sin, which demands self-reliance as a point of pride, despises such admissions. It is easy to give ourselves over to endless anxiety, and fretting over situations trying to find some way of controlling the outcomes. It is easy to spend today trying to guess what tomorrow will bring in order to be ready for it.

            Where wisdom fails faith takes over to give us peace and rest. In faith there is room for love and patience and gentleness which have no home in the restless, ruthless soul that will not trust any power beyond its own. Without God such would be our fate, but in God, through Christ, by the Holy Spirit our faith has found a resting place. The ends of our abilities and understanding is no longer the beginning of despair. We have a hope that cannot be denied, which can never fail, and from which nothing might sperate us for our hope is found in the love of God to which all scripture bears witness.

            Now beloved we are not to be naïve in our actions, or abuse faith as an excuse for laziness or ignorance. Our Lord bids us be wise, Matthew 10:16, even as serpents. We ought to seek His wisdom, and to act on its guidance. We ought to do all that we can do. We should wear our seatbelt in the car, and go to the doctor, and get sufficient sleep each night. We should manage our money well, and take care of those possessions God entrusts to us. We ought in every way to do all we can do in wisdom towards the glory of God. But when our wisdom and our abilities are exhausted, we should rest without anxiety. The things we cannot know should not shake us for we know the One who knows all things.

            We live in difficult times beloved, and are pulled in various directions all at once. We do not all agree on what is happening, and it seems hard to know what is truly happening. We are weary, and have been anxious, and frustrated, and upset in every sense of the word. We have to decide what is the wisest course. We may disagree, or it may be that as each of us is in a different situation wisdom dictates a different course to each. Now beloved, the world may well be excused at this time for frustration, acting out under strain, and even for despairing; but we are not of the world and we ought to act differently. We ought to be honest, and we ought to love each other, and to be kind and caring and concerned for each other not just in body but soul. We should not be so frustrated, we should not have to hide our heads in the sand and pretend that nothing is happening, nor should we panic.

            I do not know what tomorrow will bring, I like many others pray and hope it brings us back to normality as we have known, but that may not be the case. Our normal may look a little different, it may look a lot different. I do not know about tomorrow, but I know who holds it. And this much I do know the gospel will remain the same as it has ever been. The church will adapt with wisdom from God to keep people safe as the work of the Kingdom goes on. And this I know with certainty by faith that every normal we know in this life is temporary, but we will know at Christ’s coming the true normal and it shall last forever and ever amen.

Prayer

            Father grant us all wisdom to know and discern what we need to know and discern in order to live most faithfully. Where our wisdom fails let us submit to You and find that peace with surpasses all understanding. Teach us to walk by faith in wisdom, show us the right balance. Lord in this time grant us to be honest with one another, to love one another even as Christ loves us. Let us be patient in all things, and kind. Let us not be stubborn, and let us not be foolish. Tomorrow is Yours. Let Your will be done to Your glory alone. In the name of Christ, we pray. Amen.

Song

I know who holds tomorrow

 My faith has found a resting place

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Last Conversation with Grandad

  The Last Conversation with Granddad; A Eulogy for Marshall Helms             There is so much that needs to be done, and so precious little time. There are some here who need comfort, and some who need assurance, and some who need encouragement, and some who need to be admonished. Yes, there is much to do, and precious little time. So, let us pray. Father, the task before me is overwhelming, and I have no strength for it. Abide with me please that in my weakness Your strength might be perfectly evidence, and Your word might go forth today to accomplish all Your good and perfect will. I ask it for the sake of Your glory, In the name of Jesus. Amen.             It has been rightly said that it is not wrong to mourn. Indeed, in Matthew 5 our Lord says those who mourn are blessed for they will be comforted. We mourn death because it is unnatural. It discomforts us bec...
Read more

Against work addiction

  It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep. Psalm 127:2 ESV             When work becomes anxious toil, something has gone wrong. Something has gone wrong in our society when it comes to work. Several decades ago, Wayne Oats coined a new word, “Workaholic” to describe addiction to work.   The description Oats came up resonates with the psalmist describes. Anxious toiling, long hours, and little if any enjoyment of the work itself or the fruits of the toil. Addiction is another word for slavery, and it is easy to be enslaved by the anxiety over our work for it drives to work more, and that increases our anxiety while also burning through psychological energies.             Not only is workaholism addiction/slavery, it is idolatry for if we stop to think about it the workaholic ...
Read more

Up and ahead

              Sometimes we are blindsided by a sudden shift in life. We thought we were on stable ground, and then someone starts shouting at us in a routine meeting, or tells us we don’t have a job anymore on a Monday morning, or a loved one leaves on Friday evening with no plans to return. We are left with broken piece of something that once made a kind of sense to us. We knew, and now we do not know.             Where is God? We can’t see Him anymore. We cannot understand where He went to, or what he was thinking. We trusted Him, didn’t we? Now look where we are… It is the better part of wisdom to be quiet when these calamities come to visit and to wait. It is the one wise thing Job’s friend did, when first they saw the plight of the miserable man, they only wept with him.             When later they decided to...
Read more