Tomorrow

“But I am trusting in you, O Lord, saying, ‘You are my God!’ My future is in your hands. Rescue me from those who hunt me down relentlessly” (Psalm 31:14-15).

The writer of this Psalm 31 was experiencing a very difficult time in life. While the specific problem isn’t stated, the text gives us some insight into what was going on. There was the potential of being disgraced (v. 1). Enemies were seeking the writer’s ruin (v. 4). Stress was taking an emotional and physical toll (vv. 9-10). A sense of estrangement and isolation was taking root (vv. 11-13).

Life was a mess for the psalmist. And things appeared to be going from bad to worse. Have you ever been there? Sure you have! You’ve experienced the savage winds of the storms of life, haven’t you? You have felt the sting of betrayal. One after another, the hits keep coming. A unexpected death in the family, a scary diagnosis, too much month at the end of the money. What do you do when life seems to be caving in? Where do you turn?

The psalmist turned his problems over to the God of the future. When life is going badly, the tendency is to believe that things will never get better. The struggles of the present blind us to the possibilities of the future. The root issue here is control. Am I willing to surrender my past, my present, and especially my future to the One who can truly control such things?

Ira Stamphill had it right in 1950 when he wrote the first verse of his well-known hymn: “I don’t know about tomorrow, I just live from day to day; I don’t borrow from its sunshine, for its skies may turn to grey. I don’t worry o’er the future, for I know what Jesus said; and today I’ll walk beside Him, for He knows what is ahead. Many things about tomorrow, I don’t seem to understand; but I know who hold tomorrow, and I know who hold my hand.”

God loves you!
Mike