Ever since I wrote the sermon about Psalm 23 last month, I’ve been thinking about a quote I mentioned in it by Charles Spurgeon. He said, “The worst evils of life are those which do not exist except in our imagination. If we had no troubles but real troubles, we should not have a tenth part of our present sorrows. We feel a thousand deaths in fearing one, but the psalmist was cured of the disease of fearing.”
I think all of us want to be “cured of the disease of fearing,” wouldn’t you agree? Spurgeon isn’t saying that there isn’t evil in life. He’s saying that the majority of the things we worry about are things that haven’t actually happened to us, but which we worry might happen to us. We worry about the “what ifs” and the “worst-case scenarios.”
As I’ve been pondering this idea of his, a Bible verse came to my mind, and so I want us to look closer at this idea today, and see how it lines up with Scripture. The verse that came to mind is familiar to most of us. It is something Jesus said in Matthew 6:34 (CSB). He said, “Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Maybe Spurgeon had that verse in mind when he made his statement. For indeed, we all have real troubles to deal with. As Jesus said, “Each day has enough trouble of its own.” But we do not need to add to our troubles by adding imagined troubles to our list of things to worry about. We do not need to worry about tomorrow and what might or might not happen to us. In fact, Jesus says, “Don’t worry about tomorrow.” Don’t do it.
Now, maybe you are like me, and when you read this verse, your brain protests this idea and says, “But shouldn’t we prepare for what might happen? What about planning for the future? What about the story of the ant and grasshopper?” Maybe you know that fable? In that story, the ant prepares and plans wisely for the winter, and the grasshopper doesn’t, and so when winter comes, the grasshopper is starving and the ant is happy and prepared. Is Jesus telling us the opposite of the moral of that story? Are we not to bother planning for the future? Is He telling us we don’t need to worry about tomorrow and therefore we don’t need to do anything today?
No, actually, that’s not what He’s saying in that verse. Let’s look at it again. He says, “don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” That means today we have enough things to worry about. Today has enough trouble of its own. Why add to the worry by worrying about tomorrow, too?
That doesn’t mean that whatever happens, happens, and so we can be like the grasshopper. No, it means we should do today, whatever we can do, today. We should still be like the ant. Did you know the Bible actually speaks about these worker ants? Proverbs 6:6-11 says, “Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest. How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber, and want like an armed man.”
That is certainly a warning that we are not to sit idly by and expect God to just provide everything without us doing anything at all. We are supposed to work hard. In 2 Thessalonians 3:10-12 it says, “In fact, when we were with you, this is what we commanded you: ‘If anyone isn’t willing to work, he should not eat.’ For we hear that there are some among you who are idle. They are not busy but busybodies. Now we command and exhort such people by the Lord Jesus Christ to work quietly and provide for themselves.”
So for sure, we are not to be idle, doing nothing. At the same time, we are not to worry about tomorrow, because after all, there is nothing we can do about tomorrow, for it hasn’t arrived yet. All we can do is what we can do today. As my husband likes to say, all we can do is “control the controllables.”
To help us understand this concept, let’s read Jesus’ words in context. Matthew 6:25-34 (CSB) says, “25 Therefore I tell you: Don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Consider the birds of the sky: They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? 27 Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying? 28 And why do you worry about clothes? Observe how the wildflowers of the field grow: They don’t labor or spin thread. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was adorned like one of these. 30 If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t he do much more for you—you of little faith? 31 So don’t worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles eagerly seek all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be provided for you. 34 Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
After reading the whole context, you might ask again, “Wait, but isn’t Jesus actually saying we do not need to do anything at all? After all, He says the birds don’t plan for the future, and birds are certainly not like ants. Do we actually not need to plan because He will provide?” Well, have you ever “considered the birds” before? Have you ever watched a bird for any length of time? We have a lot of birds in our yard. I watch them a lot. And I’ve noticed that unless a bird is sitting on an egg in a nest, the majority of its time is spent hopping around looking for and eating food. They don’t gather into storehouses, but they are actively looking for food all day long.
I think we are to do the same thing. We are to do what we can do each day. We don’t need to worry about the future, if we are doing what we are supposed to do each day. We can look at tomorrow with hope, and not with fear, for we know that when tomorrow comes, we do what we are doing today. We can face each day’s trouble, but we don’t need to add to our worry by fearing the future or the what ifs or worst-case scenarios we imagine happening.
For as Jesus points out, “Can any of you add one moment to his life span by worrying?” Can we actually do anything about our imagined fears? No, because all that we can do is what we can do today. Why imagine that the worst will happen? Does it help us? Or is it just wasted, needless worry? For what if tomorrow arrives and instead of the worst-case scenario happening, what if the best-case scenario happens? Why do we assume the worst will happen? Jesus says, “If that’s how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and thrown into the furnace tomorrow, won’t he do much more for you—you of little faith?” He also says that our Heavenly Father knows what we need and that He will provide for us, the same way He provides for the birds, and “Aren’t you worth more than they?”
Instead of worrying about ‘worst-case scenarios’, what if we had some faith in the goodness of our Heavenly Father and hoped instead for the ‘best-case scenario’? What if we turned our prayers into ‘best case’ faith, instead of ‘worst case’ worry? Because I can say from experience that even when bad things have happened and real tragedies have happened, when I look back, I can see the events surrounding those tragedies have always been full of ‘best-case’ details. Even when I had a miscarriage, the best-case scenarios within that tragedy happened. God still showed Himself faithful. He still helped me. He still caused the best possible circumstances within the worst things that were happening.
I know of many stories from other people who testify to this same thing happening. People have told me stories of losing loved ones, but how God showed up and orchestrated so many incredible things that happened right before their loved one died. Whether it was events like the entire family getting together and taking pictures, or people taking a last trip together or the timing of the death waiting until other important things happened.
So many times when something bad happens, if we stop and look back at the situation, we can spot the hand of God orchestrating good things in the midst of the trouble. But we have to be looking for His intervention. It’s not always obvious to us.
Again, this doesn’t mean that we won’t have trouble on any given day. Jesus says the opposite. He says, “Each day has enough trouble of its own.” The word for trouble in this passage is the Greek word kakia, and it means wickedness or evil. So this word is not to be taken lightly. Real wickedness, evil, and maladies confront us each day. That is why each day’s kakia is enough for that day, and we unfortunately, do have to deal with it.
Every day, in fact, there seems to be new evil and wickedness in our world. In recent news, an assassination attempt almost killed President Donald Trump, but looking back at that moment, we see the hand of God intervening. It seems the Lord caused the former president to turn his head at just the precise moment needed to save his life. He has given credit to God for His saving him. Even in the midst of that great evil, clearly in that situation for President Trump, it is also an example of the best possible scenario for a worst-case occurrence.
Another man, sitting in the bleachers, was shot by one of the bullets and tragically, it killed him, though. That is a terrible evil that he encountered that day. But, that man’s family has said that he was a Christian, and that he gave his life to protect his wife and daughter from the bullet. Based on things that his daughter has written about the event, I think if I could talk to her, she would probably agree with me that even in this evil tragedy, God has still caused the best-case scenario to come about. She wrote, “He loved his family. He truly loved us enough to take a bullet for us.” Her father, Corey Comperatore, died a hero protecting his family. Even in the midst of this evil national tragedy, God’s faithfulness is still evident. I cannot even imagine what our country would be like right now if the shooter had succeeded in assassinating President Trump.
I think the fact that there is real evil each day is probably why we are sometimes afraid to hope for best-case scenarios. But something that I’ve learned in my almost 50 years of being alive is that we don’t actually get to prepare for the evil trouble that we encounter on any given day. The Comperatore family went to that rally, never expecting their loved one would die. It’s proof that we can’t actually prepare for the wickedness, but we can take each day that comes, one day at a time.
But that is why there’s no use in worrying about tomorrow. As the saying goes, “We don’t know what tomorrow holds, but we know Who holds tomorrow.” That means that not only do we not need to worry about tomorrow, but we can have peace knowing that no matter what tomorrow holds, God will be there with us to help us. Look at what Romans 8:28 (CSB) says, “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”
That means that God will use every circumstance for our ultimate good, but there is a conditional statement in that verse. Did you catch it? God works all things together for the good of those who are called according to His purpose. If we are living the opposite of what God has called us to, then how can He work all things for good?
Look at what the Barnes’ Notes on the Bible has to say about this verse. He wrote, “For good - for our real welfare; for the promotion of true piety, peace, and happiness in our hearts. To them that love God - This is a characteristic of true piety. To them, afflictions are a blessing. To others, they often prove otherwise. On others they are sent as chastisements; and they produce complaining, instead of peace; rebellion, instead of submission; and anger, impatience, and hatred, instead of calmness, patience, and love. The Christian is made a better man by receiving afflictions as they should be received, and by desiring that they should accomplish the purpose for which they are sent; the sinner is made more hardened by resisting them, and refusing to submit to their obvious intention and design.”
That means that God can use afflictions and troubles, and even the evil that is committed against us, as a way to mold us and shape us more into His image. He can use these troubles for our ultimate good, if we react to them in a way that is consistent with His calling on our lives.
N.T. Wright has an even deeper insight into this verse. In an article published in Time magazine, He says this about this verse that Paul wrote in Romans: “First, he was saying that it’s God who works ‘all things together for good,’ not that ‘all things’ were doing it under their own steam. Second, he was explaining how God does this. Specifically, he does it in collaboration with certain people. He recruits human beings to share in his purposes in the world. This idea sends shivers down some theological spines. We’ve often been warned against any idea that humans can co-operate in the work of salvation. But salvation isn’t the focus of this part of Romans 8. Salvation, to be sure, remains the ultimate horizon, but this particular passage is about vocation. It’s about how we repay the debt of gratitude we owe to God (verse 12). Those who have been grasped by the gospel of Jesus, those in whose hearts the Holy Spirit has been at work, now have a specific role, a task, within God’s ongoing purposes.[…] We are to be people of prayer at the places where the world is in pain. And in the present time this kind of lament is what prayer looks like. When we take up that calling, we are caught up in the love of God; and God is working all things together for good with those who love him. That’s why, in the new edition of the New Testament for Everyone, I have translated Romans 8:28 this way: ‘We know, in fact, that God works all things together for good with those who love him, who are called according to his purpose.’”
This goes together with what Barnes is saying. For God can only bring about this good in our character if we cooperate with Him. God will work all things, even tribulations, for good with us who love Him, if we are participating in this good. We have to look for and embrace His purposes even when trials and tribulations are happening around us or to us. If we do that, then He can use these troubles for His good, not only in our individual character, but in the world at large.
We must not look at this passage of Romans and think that everything that happens to us is God’s will, though. Despite what the Calvinists say, not everything that happens is God’s will. That means that we shouldn’t just accept whatever is happening in the world as God’s will. We live in a fallen, broken, sinful world. It has been stained and corrupted by sin. The devil is real and hard at work. And people make decisions and act contrary to God’s will all day long. We are not to be apathetic about this. While we don’t need to worry about tomorrow, today we need to confront the trouble or evil problems head on. The best way to do this is to follow Jesus’ example to us. He taught us what to do when He taught His disciples how to pray. He said in Matthew 6:9-10, “Therefore, you should pray like this: Our Father in heaven, your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”
That is proof that not everything that happens is God’s will, and that we must pray and work with God to ensure that God’s will is done on earth, just as it is in heaven.
For again, when worst-case scenarios come true, what should our response as Christians be? If we respond in a godly manner, and with faith, then we have an opportunity to be a testimony of the power of God alive in us. We can be examples of what it means to follow Christ. This means we bring peace in the midst of trouble. We respond in holiness to wickedness and evil. We are to do as Romans 12:17-21 (CSB) tells us to do. It says, “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Give careful thought to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes. If possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Friends, do not avenge yourselves; instead, leave room for God’s wrath, because it is written, Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord. But, if your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink. For in so doing you will be heaping fiery coals on his head. Do not be conquered by evil, but conquer evil with good.”
Each day has enough trouble of its own. We do not need to worry about tomorrow, for all we can do is what we can do today. This should fill us with peace. For as much as God cares for the birds of the air, He cares for us so much more. The question is, do we believe that enough that we can let go of worrying about tomorrow? Or do we still fear the what ifs and worst-case scenarios?
I think the main reason we are afraid to hope everything will turn out great is because we don’t want to be disappointed or caught off guard. Expectations are tricky things, aren’t they? For we all know that even if we have hope, sometimes the evil and tragic things still happen. Despite that, let’s not allow it to prevent us from hoping in God’s goodness. Let’s not abandon our hopeful expectations for everything working out for the best, because if we truly trust God, then we can trust Him to take care of us. Because, let’s be honest, sometimes the things we are hoping for aren’t actually what is best for us. Sometimes the things we are hoping for might be things that are either totally unrealistic or are not actually good for us. But if we are following the Lord, seeking His will and Kingdom first in our lives, then He will take care of us. Even when we face troubles and evil, if we follow His leading, He will use that in our lives to make us more like Him.
We don’t need to worry about tomorrow. We can rest secure in the knowledge that God is with us and He will help all of us who follow Him. Let me end with this benediction as a prayer for you: Romans 15:13 (ESV) says, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”
Pray: Heavenly Father, that is our prayer. Please fill us with all joy and peace as we look to You with hope. Please help us by Your Holy Spirit to not worry about tomorrow, but to have hope that no matter what tomorrow holds, You are with us and will help us. In Jesus’ our Savior’s name we pray, amen.
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