The past days have been full of various pressures, loss, and disappointment. Maybe you are like the ones I have in mind as I go back to this familiar theme today. Possibly you have lost the job, experienced the loss of a loved one, or experienced the crushing blow of sin against you, your marriage, or your family. All of these things leave us breathless and can cause real worry, anxiety, and fear, among so many other feelings as well. In this midst of this, there is an old theme that runs through the Scriptures that we need to revisit in our hearts and minds. The theme: If God takes care of the sparrow, He certainly will take care of you. Did you read that loud enough? If God takes care of the sparrow, He certainly will take care of you.
Jesus, while talking to His disciples, explained, “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:29-31).
Only God truly knows about tomorrow. But friends, that is wonderful news. You do not have to know what God does. Why? Because He alone is trustworthy of today, tomorrow, and the future.
I Know Who Holds Tomorrow
Upon losing his wife at a young age, Ira Stanphill wrote this song in 1950 expressing a prayer of surrender to his Savior under circumstances he didn’t understand. God doesn’t promise that walking with Him will be easy, but what He does promise is that every day of our lives is in His hands. We can rest in the hope of His Son, Jesus Christ, who paid the punishment for our sins, so that we can have hope and eternity with Him! In this season of uncertainty we are so thankful for a loving Savior who gladly takes our worries and bears our burdens so that we can walk one day at a time with eternity in our hearts. He holds tomorrow, and He holds each day in His hands.
Here are the lyrics:
Verse 1
I don’t know about tomorrow;
I just live from day to day.
I don’t borrow from its sunshine
For its skies may turn to grey.
I don’t worry o’er the future,
For I know what Jesus said.
And today I’ll walk beside Him,
For He knows what lies ahead.
Chorus
Many things about tomorrow
I don’t seem to understand
But I know who holds tomorrow
And I know who holds my hand.
Verse 2
Every step is getting brighter
As the golden stairs I climb;
Every burden’s getting lighter,
Every cloud is silver-lined.
There the sun is always shining,
There no tear will dim the eye;
At the ending of the rainbow
Where the mountains touch the sky.
Verse 3
I don’t know about tomorrow;
It may bring me poverty.
But the one who feeds the sparrow,
Is the one who stands by me.
And the pathway that be my portion
May be through the flame or flood;
But His presence goes before me
And I’m covered with His blood.
A Couple of Musicians Sing This Song
Here are a few renditions of this old song. The first is in a Homecoming video. The author Ira Stanphill was a Southern Gospel writer and singer. This edition is sung by many of his friends singing his song. The second rendition is by a local church. Both catch the heart of this song. The third, below the verses, is a beautiful piano rendition by Sangah Noona.
Some Reflections from the Word
Jeremiah 29:11
11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Matthew 6:25-34
25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
28 “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; 29 and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
31 “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
Isaiah 46:8-11
8 “Remember this, and show yourselves men;
Recall to mind, O you transgressors.
9 Remember the former things of old,
For I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like Me,
10 Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things that are not yet done,
Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
And I will do all My pleasure,’
11 Calling a bird of prey from the east,
The man who executes My counsel, from a far country.
Indeed I have spoken it;
I will also bring it to pass.
I have purposed it;
I will also do it.
Sangah Noona
KevinCarson.com | Wisdom for Life in Christ Together
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