Thought for Today
Psalm 90:12 So teach us to count our days that we may gain a wise heart.
Proverbs 22:17 The words of the wise: Incline your ear and hear my words, and apply your mind to my teaching; . . . 19 So that your trust may be in the Lord, I have made them known to you today-- yes, to you.
Matthew 6:34 "So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today.
Luke 12:20 But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?'
Detailed planning or spontaneity? Are you a planner or do you greet each new day as a one-time, unique happening? The author of today’s These Days devotional said of the verse above from Psalms, “The psalmist’s prayer is that in counting our days, we will remember each day as a gift from God and thus grow in wisdom and discerning God’s ways for how we live in them.” I could not agree more!
Just exactly how do we do that? The Bible does offer us some clues. Jesus’ own stories and parables offer us clues for our daily living. Yet, it is not always obvious whether we are to plan ahead or to be spontaneous. Are we to be proactive or reactive?
Part of our instinctive (?) reaction to any disaster is to assign blame. A lot of that is going on right now as parts of our nation recover from a disastrous hurricane while others just to their south anticipate the imminent arrival of another intense hurricane. Having lived much of our lives along the Texas Gulf Coast, we understand. Several years ago that coast was ravaged by a hurricane which revealed some serious flaws in how the infrastructure responded. The initial predictions were for the storm to come ashore along the southern part of the coast, so residents were encouraged to evacuate. Sadly, there were only 2 major routes available. Many chose the northerly route which would take them to Houston where they could pick up I-45 and head north. As they filled up the highways, the storm changed course and ultimately came ashore just east of Houston. As the residents there were trying to evacuate, they encountered already gridlocked highways headed north. We knew people caught in the massive traffic jam who spent 72+ hours attempting the normally 3–4-hour drive to Dallas.
How do we anticipate the unexpected? How do we plan for the unimaginable? Could Admiral Husband Kimmel and Lt. General Walter Short have anticipated a surprise attack while the diplomats of the attacking nation were at the White House meeting with the American Secretary of State? Could anyone have anticipated September 11, 2001? Could Israel have expected the attack of October 7th? Nations do attempt through their intelligence gathering to anticipate and prepare; however, things do happen! Sometimes the unimaginable only becomes imaginable through having happened.
When we look at our relationship with God, when we think about our redemption and salvation, there is no need for anticipating the unexpected, for planning for the unimaginable. The Bible is graphic and explicit about the rewards and consequences of our wisdom and discernment . . . or the lack thereof.
One of Greta’s and my favorite hymns is I Know Who Holds Tomorrow. “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 gray. 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.” I especially love the refrain, “Many things about tomorrow I don’t seem to understand; But I know who holds tomorrow, And I know who holds my hand.”
When I read the parable about that rich farmer building silos in Luke 12, that song about tomorrow resounds in my mind. That farmer forgot who was holding his hand. He put his trust in the abundance of the land, forgetting that the land and its abundance were gifts from God. Instead of planning increasingly larger larders, he should have been building up treasures in heaven. "Matthew 6:19 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.” Treasures in heaven are that for which we should plan.
Stay safe, plan those treasures in heaven, trust God,
Pastor Ray