Are you troubled at the prospect of tomorrow for your life? Do you remember James 4:3-16?

And even when you do ask you don’t get it because your whole aim is wrong—you want only what will give you pleasure. You are like an unfaithful wife who loves her husband’s enemies. Don’t you realize that making friends with God’s enemies—the evil pleasures of this world—makes you an enemy of God? I say it again, that if your aim is to enjoy the evil pleasure of the unsaved world, you cannot also be a friend of God. Or what do you think the Scripture means when it says that the Holy Spirit, whom God has placed within us, watches over us with tender jealousy? But he gives us more and more strength to stand against all such evil longings. As the Scripture says, God gives strength to the humble but sets himself against the proud and haughty. So give yourselves humbly to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. And when you draw close to God, God will draw close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and let your hearts be filled with God alone to make them pure and true to him. Let there be tears for the wrong things you have done. Let there be sorrow and sincere grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. Then when you realize your worthlessness before the Lord, he will lift you up, encourage and help you. Don’t criticize and speak evil about each other, dear brothers. If you do, you will be fighting against God’s law of loving one another, declaring it is wrong. But your job is not to decide whether this law is right or wrong, but to obey it. Only he who made the law can rightly judge among us. He alone decides to save us or destroy. So, what right do you have to judge or criticize others? Look here, you people who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to such and such a town, stay there a year, and open up a profitable business.” How do you know what is going to happen tomorrow? For the length of your lives is as uncertain as the morning fog—now you see it; soon it is gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we shall live and do this or that.” Otherwise you will be bragging about your own plans, and such self-confidence never pleases God. James 4:3-16 TLB

as well as the lessons taught by the Lord in Luke 12:16-21?

Then he gave an illustration: “A rich man had a fertile farm that produced fine crops. In fact, his barns were full to overflowing—he couldn’t get everything in. He thought about his problem, and finally exclaimed, ‘I know—I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger ones! Then I’ll have room enough And I’ll sit back and say to myself, “Friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Wine, women, and song for you!”’ “But God said to him, ‘Fool! Tonight, you die. Then who will get it all?’ “Yes, every man is a fool who gets rich on earth but not in heaven.” Luke 12:16-21 TLB

Was tearing down the rich man’s only option? What would he have done with the things he stored after tearing down the storehouse? If he was not hoarding, could he not have created space for the new harvest by giving away the old? Food for thought for us all who keep hoarding things that we do not actually need. When will we learn that the power of tomorrow and its events rests solely upon the Holy One, the Lord God Almighty!

So, when pressures come, when the systems of the world wherein your gainful provision is under threat, remember the faithful God who said concerning Ruth, a woman who abandoned the gods of her nativity for Yahweh Elohim, “let handfuls of purpose fall in her lap” (Ruth 2:16).

The same Lord spoke to faithful Paul in moments of pressure about the greatest challenge to his work of faith (2 Corinthians 12:7-9).

Because of the extravagance of those revelations, and so I wouldn’t get a big head, I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan’s angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me, My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 MSG

He remains true in all situations. Will you trust Him to roll the burden of duty and purpose unto Him? He cannot fail, He must prevail, oh have faith in God! Do not struggle to light your own fire (Isaiah 50:10-11).

Listen to the song God Will Work It Out and be reminded of God’s faithfulness.

Selah.

Pastor Afolabi Oladele