Lying in bed. In my hotel room. My latest location on the road for Jesus. A super rainy chilly morning. No reason to move quickly. Finally in my mid-50s learning to slow down in life. But still my mind never does. It keeps going. Used to live tons in the past in my mind and somewhat in the future. Now I am more in the present. But still I tend to get caught up in the future. After all, it is so important I know the future. That I figure it all out. How everything will turn out. What will happen. Where I will be. What I will need. How I will get my needs met. Who will do what. Oh, I could go on and on telling you. But you get the point. I need to know the future now. Don’t I? Yes, there is a powerful message in this.
Of course I do not need to know the future. But most of my life I have felt I need to. And I know I am not alone in this. I know countless other people have that same feeling. That we need to figure the future out. But why? Oh, we could tell you all sorts of reasons. But I believe the root reason – and problem – is this.
THOSE OF US WHO FEEL WE NEED TO KNOW THE FUTURE ARE NOT PUTTING OUR FULL TRUST IN THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. IF WE TRULY WHOLLY TRUSTED GOD WITH OUR HEARTS AND LIVES AND OUR LOVED ONES AND THIS WORLD, IF WE 100% BELIEVED IN HIS LORDSHIP, POWER, AWESOMENESS, HOLINESS, RIGHTEOUNESS, GOODNESS, GREATNESS, SPLENDOR, MAGNIFICENCE, AND SOVEREIGNTY AND IN THE TRUTH OF THE BIBLE, WE WOULD ENTRUST THE FUTURE TO THE LORD!
Surely God does not want us to live in the past. Nor in the future. Surely we have much better things to do than try to figure out the whole future. God wants us to be glad and rejoice in this very day! In the present! He wants us to love Him with all our hearts and love each other TODAY and going forward. He wants us to love and serve Him with all our hearts each and every day. He wants us to live for Him now.
He wants us to rejoice today and praise and worship Him today and each day to come. The future belongs to Jesus. And though we should pray and seek God and obey God concerning making any plans for the future He desires us to make, our minds should not be consumed with trying to figure out the future. We should not live in it. We should live in this day.
And the way to entrust the future to God is to TRUST IN THE LORD. How then do we increase our trust in Him? Turn from our sins, believe in Jesus Christ as Lord and in His death and resurrection, turn our lives over to the Lord, be filled with and led by His Holy Spirit, read the Bible and live by it, spend time alone with God praising and worshiping and praying to and seeking and hearing Him, live in obedience to Him, fellowship with other Jesus followers, and follow the Spirit of God as He leads us forth!
I have a lot of growing to do when it comes to putting my full trust in the Lord. And I purpose it in my heart to do just that. How about you?
“This is the day the LORD has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalms 118:24 NKJV
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, And whose hope is the LORD. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7-8 NKJV