We all want to know when this
coronavirus will end and when our lives will return back to normal
again. We want to plan ahead and we want to run our lives again
like we used to. But God taught me a very valuable lesson during
this time. And that is to truly live day by day. Now for me, who
loves to plan ahead and to rearrange my life, this is a very
difficult thing to do. But that is what God came to teach me and I
would like to share it with you.
He reminded me of the
following:
- He gave the Israelites
daily manna. DAILY, not weekly or even monthly, but daily. Why? He
wanted them to trust in Him. To trust fully in Him for their next
day's supply. He even caused the manna to be filled with maggots if
they left some over for the next day, for in case He didn't
provide. The only time He gave them two day's supply was on Friday,
so that they have enough for the Sabbath, when they rested in Him.
The same is true of us. God will supply manna daily for us; we
shouldn't worry, but rather trust Him that there will be manna
again tomorrow. It is only when we rest in Him and spend time with
Him that He will rain even more on us. There is no limit to His
supply, but He wants us to go out every day and look for Him and
His provision. He never limited the amount that the Israelites
could take per day, they could take as much as they wanted. And we
can too, His treasuries are open to us. He wants us close to Him.
Also consider this, He could have made us that we only needed to
eat once every year, or even not at all. But He made us to eat
daily, as a principle, of how we should eat daily from His Word and
feed our spirit on a daily basis by spending time in His
presence.
- Jesus told us not to
worry. "Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring
about its own things." Matthew 6:34. Now if someone had a
reason to worry, it was Jesus. He knew and told His disciples that
He was going to be crucified in Jerusalem. He knew that He was
going to die a horrific death. And yet we never read that He
stressed about it months, weeks or even days before it happened. It
was only the night of the arrest that He sweat blood and asked God
to take the cup from Him if He was willing. But otherwise, you
never see Him anxious or stressed in advance. He was always filled
with God's Shalom peace. And we can learn from Him. We will never
even go through something as horrific as He went through. So if He
didn't worry about the cross, why should we worry about lesser
things? He promised that He would look after us, much more than the
birds of the air or the lilies of the field.
- I read the following
quote from Will Smith and God immediately told me to put it in here
as well: "You don't set out to build a wall. You don't say, "I
am going to build the biggest, greatest wall that's ever been
built." You don't start there. You say, "I'm going to lay this
brick as perfectly as a brick can be laid." You do that
every single day. And soon you have a wall." God doesn't want
us focusing on the wall we are building; He wants us to do what we
can do in the moment, all the way trusting on Him. And slowly but
surely we will make progress and find ourselves walking on the path
that God ordained for us. What more can we want? Because if we look
at the wall and all we still need to do, we will become frazzled
and stressed. God only wants us to focus on that day and do what He
leads us to do. The rest will take care of itself.
God's mercies are new every
morning. His grace is like fresh manna to be picked up and used for
our day. He is the great I AM, living in the present. And that is
where we should also be. The future is in His hands. We simply need
to walk on His path laid out before us for that day, eating His
manna of grace and mercy, not worrying about tomorrow. I know this
is easier said than done, but nothing worthwhile in life comes
easy. So I am certainly going to try. As I said for my personality
type it is very difficult, but I can see the rewards of living this
way, so I am certainly going to give it my best shot. Hope you are
going to do that too? Walking hand in hand with Him in the present
is true life. Come and walk in the liberty that it brings.
Father, thank you that You are
always looking out for us. Thank you that You are already in our
future and that You know best for Your children. Help us in our
journey of walking in the present moment and not worrying about the
future. We look up to You and only You. Amen.