“Because of the Lord’s faithful love
we do not perish,
for his mercies never end.
23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness!
24 I say, “The Lord is my portion,
therefore I will put my hope in him.”
Lamentations 3:22-24
Note: Post was written 3/28/2020, just a couple of weeks after the COVID-19 situation in the US began to develop.
We’re two weeks into our country being overwhelmed by COVID-19. Two weeks ago, we knew about the coronavirus, it had invaded China, Italy, South Korea, Japan, Singapore, and others. But it hadn’t started affecting our lives here in America (other than my husband and I having to cancel our two week vacation to Italy, *sigh*). Two weeks later, it’s officially affecting us. For some, it means attempting to homeschool your kids. For some, it means having to work from home while attempting to homeschool your kids. For some, you are still going to work and dealing with the constant changing policies and constant rumors from coworkers. And for some, you are unable to work and now are trying to figure out how you’re going to pay your bills this month. This pandemic is affecting all of us in so many different ways. And the scariest part of it? It’s all out of our control.
I have struggled with anxiety all my life. It’s been passed down to me from generations before me. I want to be the one who breaks that chain. I don’t want to live my life in fear, with my thoughts clinging to extremes and negativity. If I’m honest, I’ve been doing a terrible job of trusting the Lord during my current season of life, even before COVID-19. As I admitted to a friend that I am being overwhelmed by anxiety during this season, she gave me this verse:
“Therefore don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34
Friends, we have a Good Father. Even in the midst of an unknown future and a terrifying tomorrow, He is still good and He still provides. Just before this verse, Jesus reminds us that God clothes even the flowers of the field and feeds the birds of the air. He asks the question, if your Father takes care of the birds and the flowers, how much more will He take care of you? The ones who were made in His image, whom He adopted? He provides us with what we need day to day. Earlier in Matthew 6 is the Lord’s Prayer which states, “Give us today our daily bread.” We can trust Him to provide our daily bread.
This brings to mind a devotional by John Piper that helped me through some really tough times while I was single. When I was single, I would be overcome by thoughts of having to be single forever. I couldn’t get through the day because I was so worried about tomorrow. Lamentations 3 says that His mercies are new every morning. When we focus on the future, we can be overwhelmed, thinking “I cannot live the rest of my life like this!” But the good news is, you don’t have to! Piper states, “Today’s mercies are not designed to carry tomorrow’s burdens. There will be mercies tomorrow for that. Today’s mercies are for today’s burdens.” (1) Today He provides the mercies and strength that we need for today. And then tomorrow, He will provide the mercies you need for tomorrow. This is a promise. You can hold on to that.
Martin Luther states, when referencing Matthew 6, “we have as many teachers and preachers as there are little birds in the air.” (2) So every morning when you are getting ready or making coffee or driving to work and you hear the birds making a tune of praise and worship to the God who provides for them, be reminded that he gives us our daily bread. We can trust Him. COVID-19 is not a surprise to Him. Throughout your day or at the end of the day, make a note in a journal or on your phone of all the ways He provided for you that day. And when you walk through a similar tumultuous time in the future, because we’re guaranteed more will come, you will have these notes that will remind you to focus only on today.
“Our task today is not to have the strength needed for tomorrow’s burdens. Our task today is to live by the mercies given for today, and to believe that there will be new mercies for tomorrow. Today’s mercies do not include strength for tomorrow; they include faith that tomorrow’s unseen mercies will be sufficient for tomorrow.” (1)
- https://www.desiringgod.org/messages/todays-mercies-for-todays-troubles
- https://renovare.org/articles/do-not-be-anxious-about-your-life Excerpted from Spiritual Classics: Selected Readings on the Twelve Spiritual Disciplines, edited by Richard Foster and Emilie Griffin (New York: HarperOne, 2000), pp. 119-124.
