No Loans on Tomorrow’s Grace

“Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes” (Matt. 6:34, MSG).

Right now is a very special time for us as a family. My oldest daughter Ester is back home for her first visit since she moved to the U.S. for school last fall. You can imagine how much joy this brings to all of us.

The other day, my daughter Anna came into my room. She shared with me that she has been having trouble fully enjoying Ester’s visit. Now I should explain, she is deeply attached to her big sister. She has missed her a tremendous amount since she moved away. The reason for her difficulty is that she immediately began anticipating Ester’s departure, as soon as Ester arrived. She is afraid of enjoying the moments too much and then being overly sad again when she has to go back to the U.S.

I shared with her that I can understand this quite well. I have had quite a number of similar experiences in my life, especially with my calling to live on the foreign mission field. I remember some early visits to my best friend, in which I felt turmoil in my soul because I was keenly aware of how soon I would be leaving again. It colored quite a few of the moments we had, stealing a bit of the joy I know God intended for them.

However, I was able to share with Anna that over the years, Holy Spirit has taught me to be fully in the moment when He provides visits like these. He has taught my heart that He will always provide all things for my enjoyment. And He will always provide the grace that I need in between visits. I have learned by personal experience that these promises are true. This heart knowledge has freed me to lean in more fully to the gifts that He provides along life’s path, including special moments like these.

Then this morning in my quiet time, I came to the Scripture I have shared above. I had never read Matthew 6:34 in the Message version before. I love how paraphrases like this one can bring a fresh nuance to familiar passages of the Bible (although I would not recommend making them one’s mainstay for Scriptural intake). I went and excitedly showed this to Anna: “Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.”

Is that not entirely perfect for what we were just discussing? How I love the way Holy Spirit does that for us! His provides fresh rhema for each and every new challenge that we face as we continue our journey in Him.

Each day holds its own set of challenges. We should not try to peek at tomorrow’s challenges through the lens of today’s grace. Doing so will only cause us to feel unnecessarily overwhelmed. Our Father provides all the grace we need for today, exclusively for today’s challenges. We cannot borrow from tomorrow’s grace.

The Israelites discovered firsthand that tomorrow will bring tomorrow’s provision; tomorrow’s manna. Like them, we come to learn by trial and error that tomorrow will bring tomorrow’s grace. We cannot get an advance on tomorrow’s manna, and yet, today’s manna is entirely sufficient for today. We can bank on this surety. “As your days are, so your strength shall be” (Deut. 33:25). When our hearts come to rest in this unfailing truth, we can lean fully into today and delight in the gifts set before us right now.

Thank you, Abba Father, that each day You give us everything we need, and that You are already in tomorrow, ready with the grace we’ll need when we get there!

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As you have walked with Jesus and discovered His provision of daily grace, what are your personal observations about this learning process?