“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Matthew 6:34 (NIV)
Jesus said each day has enough trouble of its own, and He doesn’t advise us to get caught up in worry about the future or to grieve too long over past sorrows or offenses. It will only compound the problems of today. He knows what we went through in our past, and He understands what we worry about in our future, but He has something special for us to receive today. Worrying about a future situation leads to anxiety, and dwelling on the past can lead to depression. In this scripture, Jesus tells us that each day has enough problems of it’s own, and His advice is to live in the present, not the past or the future. He said in the Lord’s Prayer, to ask God for our daily bread, which has been God’s message all along, going back to the days of Moses, when the manna fell from heaven each day. Manna, the heavenly bread, could only be gathered fresh each day. It couldn’t be collected and saved for the future or it would quickly rot. God is trying to keep us living in the present, for the sake of our mental and spiritual health. He is teaching this message to us not only through the manna from heaven story, but also in the story of the widow of Zarephath. After she gave the last of her flour and oil to feed the prophet Elijah, she received an endless supply of flour and oil in her jars, for days afterward. She received it fresh each day, not in a lump sum. God supplied her needs during a major drought and famine, but He did it one day at a time. It seems clear that God is trying to tell us through these stories, that He intends to give us all the help we need, but only one day at a time. Living in the present sounds hard to do, but it’s God’s prescription for our peace of mind. Jesus is teaching us to take this day’s concerns, and bring them to Him. Then we are to do the same thing tomorrow, and repeat the next day, and so on. Each day can only care for its own problems, so He wants us to gather from Him fresh each day, just like the manna from heaven. Jesus called Himself the bread of heaven, and He is our daily bread, meaning we receive what He has for us fresh each day. Like the widow of Zarephath, our jars will be refilled, one day at a time. What He wants to give us today is different from yesterday, and it’s not the same as what He has for us tomorrow. It’s time to live in the present, and to raise our expectations as we arise each morning, and see what He has for us today. Jesus, you are the Lord of today, we surrender all worry and anxiety to you, casting all our cares upon you. We expect with open hearts to receive something special from you, as a sign of your daily Presence and your love that is with us now and throughout this day. Amen