In spite of the fact that my “hindsight is 20/20," my “foresight” needs work. One box I unpacked yesterday contained straws (free with any size drink at every fast food location across the nation) and used water bottle caps (like the ones on the complete set of water bottles cooling in the fridge right now). Hindsight says, “You could have saved yourself the time and trouble now by throwing these things out before you moved.” Poor foresight says, “Deal with it later” or worries, “What if the State of Arkansas has a shortage on used bottle tops or colorful straws?” My lack of foresight seemed like a short cut at the moment but caused extra work yesterday.
Worrying about the future may seem like a shortcut as well, but it only adds “work” in the long run. When I worry about what might or could happen, I switch to tunnel vision and expend a lot of energy on negative imagery. Sarah Young starts today’s devotional with: “Anxiety is a result of envisioning the future without Me.” Isn’t that the truth? We look back and see God in every detail, but when we look forward we see ourselves floundering and failing in the worst possible scenarios. How can we open our eyes to include God in the pcture?
Sarah offers two simple rules: 1) Don’t linger in the future where anxieties wait to pounce from behind every shadow, and 2) If you must think about the future, picture God with you, working with and for you on whatever you’re worrying about, just as He has before. The discipline comes in spending much time with Him today so we’re relaxed and confident He’ll be there tomorrow supplying all the bottle tops and straws we could ever need.
Sweet Sovereign Lord, I don’t mind being blind about the future as long as my hand is in Yours. Forgive me when I omit Your Presence from the picture. I deserve whatever horror scenes my imagination invents when I leave You, my God and my Savior, out of my future. You’re teaching me to claim the promise of Your Presence each day. Guide me to that beautiful skill of weaving trusting You and planning with foresight. Thank You for providing now and then.
“Then Jesus said to His disciples: ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. Life is more than food and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?’’ Luke 12:22-26
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