Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:34 NIVUK
There have been times in my past, as I'm sure there have been in yours, when things have got on top of me and I've become stressed. It happens to all of us. It's called 'being human'. When I've analysed these events, the same theme has come up time and time again.
I've been distracted. I've been distracted by an event in the next day or week or month. I've focused on it instead of what I needed to do right then and there. Sometimes this has even happened more than once. My mind has jumped from one thing to another to another, without doing any of them well. The tyranny of the urgent, or of the thing I'd prefer to be doing, has taken over. Before I've known it, I've dropped the ball for what needed to be done right then and there, my level of organisation has gone out the window and I've allowed things to get out of control.
Any of us who have a high pressure job or small children will have experienced this. This is often a root cause of anxiety. Actually, it's more a spiralling chain reaction: the situation gets out of control, which makes us more anxious, which means that the situation gets more out of control, which makes us more anxious...
How do we stop it? Jesus tells us here. It's so blindingly simple it's almost boring, and yet utterly revolutionary at the same time. Don't deal with tomorrow until you're done with today. Focus on what you need to do now and leave the rest till you're done.
How do we do this? We do something so mundane that it almost escapes our attention. We plan. We organise. Not to the point where our every minute is planned to perfection. Life is life and it will intervene. But we do plan enough to ensure that we know approximately what we're supposed to be doing on what day.
This is done with one rule in mind: don't worry about tomorrow's work until today's is done. Got a bill to pay at the end of the month? Rent due soon? Deadline coming up? Don't be distracted by them. Focus on today's work first. Don't forget them. Write them down. Put a note in your calendar. Set a reminder on your phone or mobile device. But don't be side-tracked. Don't be distracted. Today's work comes first.
This verse is quite unusual. You see, this passage is all about worry and anxiety. The Greek word translated as 'worry' in our Bibles is used seven times in Matthew 6, but three times alone in this verse. It's almost as if Jesus knew that being distracted by things that will happen tomorrow is a huge source of anxiety, perhaps more than any other. The Bible is firm, not just in our verse, that we should not allow the needs of tomorrow to overwhelm us because we have no idea what will happen tomorrow (James 4:13-16; Proverbs 16:1-3; Proverbs 16:9). The Bible is absolutely not against planning (Proverbs 21:5). However, it is against planning without seeking the Lord's will and purposes and allowing Him to overrule (Proverbs 19:20-21).
As I write these lines, I've been furloughed. I had a lot of plans and right now not many of them are happening. I have to trust God that they will eventually, but right now I have to live from one day to the next, to concentrate on each day's tasks and leave tomorrow in God's hands.
But what about people who have no job? I've been in this position quite a few times, in the last few years in particular. It isn't easy. Far from it. The hardest part is that no matter how good your plan is, you have no idea if it will work. However, that doesn't mean you shouldn't plan. Your task is to find a job. So you plan for it. You plan changes to your CV and social media, you plan and prepare for interviews, you plan to contact employment agencies. You must plan. You need to have at least a loose structure to your day. If you give up and spend your day in bed or watching TV, then it's certain that anxiety, and possibly even depression, will set in. What's more, your confidence will suffer. Confidence is a character trait that is crucial to getting you a job. The longer you spend wallowing in self-pity and despair, the less likely you are to solve your situation.
The Bible must be understood correctly. God is not against planning, preparation, prioritisation or professionalism. Far from it. Jesus came to earth with a plan. When He sends out both the Twelve (Matthew 10) and the Seventy-Two (Luke 10:1-23), He gives them a plan. And there can be no argument that He is always in favour of good stewardship of time and resources. However, what He is against, and not without reason, is our plan overriding His purpose; of our attempt to rule preventing Him from over-ruling; of our innate need for control subverting His Lordship. Or attempting to, at least. He will have His way regardless.
The passage ends in a way that is strangely encouraging: 'Each day has enough trouble of its own'. Before Coronavirus, we liked to travel, particularly to Europe and Asia. When we checked in for flights, we would hand our hold luggage over at the check-in desk and only take hand luggage on the plane. If we'd wanted to take hold luggage on, we'd likely be stopped. Why? It would be too big. It would be over the limit. We would not be able to fit it in the overhead lockers or under the seat. It's exactly that with the problems and issues we face each day. Today's problems are for us to solve today. Tomorrow's should be noted, handed over to the Lord and picked up when the time is right.
We saw this verse earlier:
'Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’
Matthew 11:28-30 NIVUK
Could it be that the burden is light because Jesus has no demands or expectations on us to solve everything right now? Could it be that solving problems one day at a time is the way in which we lift the burden of anxiety from our shoulders, cease to be intimidated by big goals and targets, and are enabled to achieve for Him without experiencing unnecessary stress or burnout? It would not surprise me if this was true.
I learned this lesson many years ago.