Faith is not Worrying About Tomorrow
by Brandy Webb
Have you ever known someone who, if they didn’t have anything to worry about, would worry about not having anything to worry about? I know I sometimes find myself wondering when the “next shoe is going to drop.” But that isn’t how we are supposed to live our lives.
I know trials are a part of life, but we are not supposed to live waiting and wondering when the next trial is going to hit. If we do, then we are not showing faith. We are not supposed to worry about tomorrow.
A person with faith, in my opinion, is the one that enjoys the lapses between the trials, and is not wondering when they are about to go through another one. A person with faith lives in the present, is grateful for the blessings in their lives, lives a life where their inner light beams out to others, and puts all their trust in God.
When I think about people that always worried about tomorrow, the first thought that comes to my mind is Israel when they were wandering in the wilderness. They saw these huge miracles, and yet they still did not have faith. As soon as a trial would hit they would murmur, and say, “Did you bring us out here to die?” Then, they would proceed to proclaim that they weren’t starving and thirsty in Egypt. Can you believe it? They saw the plagues, parting of the Red Sea, even heard the voice of God, and many more things, but they still worried and became anxious about their life.
Are we like that? How many times has God intervened in your life, but then you find yourself worrying about tomorrow? I know I have done it. I will find myself becoming anxious, especially when I don’t know how things are going to work out. Isn’t that when faith is supposed to step in? I mean, “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb 11:1). Faith is the strength that guides us to take refuge in our Savior. Faith is what helps us to believe that, no matter what, we do have a loving Father and Savior that understand what we are going through. They will help us overcome.
One of my favorite passages in the Bible is the Messiah’s words regarding this very thing. I hope you don’t mind, but I want to end with them. It is in Matthew 6:25-34:
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.