"Boast Or Trust?"

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

"Boast Or Trust?"

    The Solomon who often calls us to plan for the future in his Proverbs also mandates that we humbly recognize today as the only guaranteed time we have in our present earthly lives.  

    "Boast not thyself of tomorrow, for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth" (Psalm 27:1).

   Because our lives have transpired day by day to this point, we can easily succumb to the temptation that suggests we can be sure of tomorrow.  Solomon refers to such error in terms of boasting.   When either of us are tempted to worry about the future, my wife Frances and I challenge each other: "Oh, has the Lord appeared to you and assured you that you will still be on this planet tomorrow?"   The answer is always the same: "No, can't say that He has."  So, we find ourselves pressed into the present.  Will we live this day in a manner that glorifies the Lord Jesus, fulfills God's will, and furthers His eternal purpose in Christ?  Will we devote ourselves to others, as led and enabled by the Spirit of Christ?  Will we know the peace and joy He promises in the now, as opposed to fretting over a possible fate that may or may not lie ahead?  Will we "boast thyself of tomorrow" or trust God today?  

   If we could physically see and feel our spiritual enemies, we would likely perceive them as pushing us into tomorrow.  Again, a justifiable place for planning exists in our present lives (Proverbs 6:6-8).  However, no proper place exists in our hearts for fearing the future.  If our Heavenly Father grants tomorrow to us in this present earthly lifetime, He will be waiting for us when we arrive.  Moreover, He will be with us as we go.  He is and will always be everything we will ever need, and He will be so in a provision beyond our capacity to imagine.  "Exceeding, abundantly above" supplies the measure of such promise (Ephesians 3:20-21).  However, the assurance applies only to today in the sense of our access and experience.   "As thy days, so shall thy strength be" (Deuteronomy 33:25).  Pressed into the here and now by God's promise for the present day - this is the trust to which He calls us whereby we overcome boasting about an earthly tomorrow our Lord has not guaranteed will be ours to experience.  

"This is the day which the Lord hath made.  We will rejoice and be glad in it."

(Psalm 118:24)

"Go to now, ye that say, To day or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain. Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow.  For what is your life?  It is even a vapor, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away."

(James 4:13-14)

Weekly Memory Verse

   Let us have grace, that we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and godly fear.

(Hebrews 12:28)

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