Sermons from Moorpark Presbyterian Church

Trusting God with our Tomorrows

by Janet Laughry

Exodus 16:22-30

August 20, 2000

So you are good to go? You have "come forward" if you will; said "Yes" to Jesus. You’ve got this eternal life business taken care of; all sewed up; - in your back pocket! That is GREAT and I say "Hallelujah! " However, I also need to ask – So what now? Hopefully, you each have a long time between now and livin’ in Glory!

The Apostle Paul, was "good to go." He said in his letter to the Philippians, that for him "to die is gain." HOWEVER, He also said, that for him, "to live is Christ." He knew he had time to yet be living and giving for Christ. WE also have time – all our tomorrows!

What about all those tomorrows you have between Today and Heaven? Is your high-tech Day Planner filled to the brim with appointments, deadlines, meetings, celebrations, times to be spent with family and friends, for the next millenium? Have you pencilled in – ministry time and time to be with Jesus or are those tomorrows going to be filled with human pleasures and earthly prosperity OR even fear?

Many people DO worry about the future. And some here this morning might be among that number. They are uncertain about the tomorrows and fearful of the unknown. In today’s world of violence and strife, and uncertainty, many face the future with anxiety, fear, frustration, and perhaps fatalism. And yet we are told not to be anxious about tomorrow – for tomorrow will take care of itself.

We keep wanting to handle tomorrow, don’t we ? We think it is our own efforts and power that will take care of it. Tomorrow will not take of itself – God will. It is God’s responsibility. Our responsibility is to let go of our hold on it and trust God’s power.

This past week I had the opportunity to be in a bookstore. The owner happened to walk by as I was at the counter. We greeted one another and I asked her how she was doing. She responded, "Trusting in the Lord." We then both continued with what were about and as she came back around she put her hand on my arm to get my attention and she said, "When I look in my rear view window I can see I’ve been doing that all along and He’s been there! I just have to look out the front window and look ahead and continue to Trust."

As you and I DO look out our front window - ARE we called to go forward blindly – without so much as a road map? ( I don’t think so ) In this particular region we are, I think we are particularly blessed to be surrounded by farms of one sort or another of crop. "Good farmers will have the whole year planned. They know exactly when to plow, when sow and harvest. They know when to mend fences and get the irrigation system moved. When to hire on more help for the harvest and when fewer helpers are needed. They know which field to leave fallow and which to plan again. They have daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly goals that they set for themselves and those who help them.

Then each goes to bed, gets a good nights sleep and then gets up in the morning with one thought in mind: to accomplish what each planned. They set realistic goals and then go to work. Each day they accomplish just a little, so at harvest time their family’s tables are set for another year; and our tables can benefit from his planning as well.

As Christians, we must face the future with faith. Trust the Lord with our tomorrows; the responsibility belongs to Him. He is dependable, able to carry our burdens (I Peter 5:7).

In this particular transition time within this church, AS WELL AS in each of our personal transitions that we are going through, now and in the future, we are being called to face the future with faith. God has taken care of his responsibilities for our future.

From the Isaiah passage to which Laurie referred in the Children’s time, we are told – God goes before us, as we count on God and trust God with those mountains – huge heavy doors and gates ahead of us. What are the mountains of your Tomorrows that are looming greatly before you? Do you need sturdy hiking boots to get the laundry of your past cleaned up at that next family reunion – at Thanksgiving or Christmas or next summer? What about those car pools, and the new (or continuing) job starting time – they just don’t jive do they? There doesn’t seem to be any way to get the kids to school AND you to work on time! That is a mountain for you! Is the huge heavy door you face, the fear – and loneliness - of facing the future alone, plus all those firsts to be faced since losing a loved one – and then the second and third anniversaries of special occasions of many Tomorrows - faced alone?

Your gates might be the known and unknown tests, and other terrifying situations with which you know you will be faced – whether at school, work or in family life! All of those things and situations and many more will be happening in your tomorrow. They will not be disappearing; they are all yet to be dealt with.

However, you are promised that God goes before you and as you ASK and LET the Lord of your tomorrows GO BEFORE YOU - it will be easier to traverse those mountains. And what wonderful opportunities to see God’s power unfold before you.

God does have a plan for each of us. Part of that plan does include Tomorrow. He planned for and set goals for the Israelites’ Tomorrow. This is the first time the Sabbath is mentioned in the Scriptures and God did not want it discounted in any way – especially for them to be busy and distracted!!! So God’s plan included that on the sixth day the people were to gather twice as much food. They were to prepare it the normal ways and what was left over they were to set aside. Then they were to gather nothing on the seventh day.

So we, like the Farmers and the Israelites are to plan ahead, set goals and prepare. One person I know about has as part of her devotional time with God, a set-apart planning time with God. In this she is asking for God’s guidance on those plans that will obviously result in her future. She is not just asking for God’s help and blessing on the here and now. But she is asking for guidance and help on the known and the unknowns of her tomorrows.

Last week we saw the Israelites gathering extra manna – without God’s instruction and not in God’s plan. That extra manna got worms and ants and turned foul – it stanketh! Today we see that when God’s plan included the gathering of the extra portion the manna was as fresh and useable AND etable - on the seventh day as it was on the sixth day when it was first gathered - fresh.

This seems to also have a message for us in that we are not to hoard things, money, or food, for our future in fear and not trusting God to in those areas for us. When in God’s plan our future and, all that, it holds will be fresh, and useable as necessary. And we need not fear it as we trust God with it.

Each of us is called to go forward. To keep on going on in Christ is what the Christian life is all about. The Christian life is not a step, or a leap, or even a plunge through the Red Sea. We are to make plans through Christ and ask God’s guidance in that planning and goal setting. That plan needs to include time set apart for God, for rest. REST – from daily work and REST IN God!!! - in order to be able to be renewed and fresh as we continue to go forward in Christ.

In spite of the mountains, doors and gates ahead - Your individual future might have already begun to be changed – and unwrapped - in the way of a new job, a new home, a new dream. Your future might be the awakening of an old passion of creativity and ministry, with new light and direction shining on it. Or perhaps your future is one of new friendships, new and/or growing leadership or teaching skills – perhaps even a new church home. My heart-felt guess is that the Today as well as the Tomorrows of each of the teens and many of the adults who went to Mexico as part of the Mission Team will be changed forever. Much wonderful unwrapping of God’s power is yet to be done!

Francis de Sales (1567-1622) – from the late 16^th/early 17^th Century - a Roman Catholic bishop, missionary and writer, said "The past must be abandoned to God’s mercy, the present to our faithfulness, the future to divine providence." It is indeed, through God’s mercy, our faithfulness – AND God’s faithfulness – and God’s power that we can see clearly our past, grow in our Today and trust God with our Tomorrows.

Sheri Blackmon (1900’s) -Former Associate Pastor, and who is preacher, speaker, and teacher, writer and daughter/sister/wife/mom and friend, said in her May sermon: "Letting go is an act of Faith in God’s power (in our lives)….People who won’t let go trust more in their own efforts than God, and that is not faith. People who don’t let go miss the opportunity to see God’s power.

And I say, don’t miss out on that opportunity – the opportunity to see the unwrapping of God’s power in your life. Continue looking through your front window and trust God with all your tommorrows.