Tomorrow

 

    "The sun'll come out ... Tomorrow" promises a
song popular a few years ago.  "Bet your bottom dollar, That tomorrow, There'll
be sun!" continues the lyric, meant to signify both innocence and optimism.  But
"tomorrow" is most often appealed to not in hope but as an excuse.  Rare indeed
is the wife or mother who has never found cause to reject the assurance "I'll
clean it tomorrow."  Few bosses (or customers) have escaped the empty promise
"It'll be ready tomorrow."  As the old saying goes, "Tomorrow never
comes."

 

    A brief study of Scripture's use of the word
"tomorrow" reveals an interesting trend: in a great many instances, the word is
associated with warnings or promises of destruction.  The plagues of Egypt tend
to come and go on that word [Exodus 8,9 and 10]; Joshua is told that the
Canaanite kings gathered at Merom would be destroyed "tomorrow." [Joshua 11:6] 
When Judah seemed about to be attacked during the reign of Jehoshaphat, the Lord
informs His people that it is the enemy who will perish -- tomorrow. [2 Chron.
20:17]  In Isaiah false leaders are strongly rebuked for their presumptive claim
that "Tomorrow will be as today, And much more abundant." [Isaiah 56:12]  And
that really is the problem most of the time we use the word -- we promise
"tomorrow" presuming we will be granted one.

 

    It is this sin of presumption against which
James warns us in James 4:14-14: "Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we
will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a
profit"; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your
life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes
away."  The Proverbs present a related injunction, "Do not say to your neighbor,
'Go, and come back, And tomorrow I will give it,' When you have it with you"
[Proverbs 3:28], reminiscent of the familiar "do not put off until tomorrow what
you can do today."  We are even told "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for
tomorrow will worry about its own things." [Matthew 6:34]  "Tomorrow" is
off-limits, both for intentions and for worries.

 

    We cannot promise tomorrow, any more than we
can change the past.  "Today" -- this day -- is all that is within our grasp,
and Today is where God directs our attention.  "Choose for yourselves this day
whom you will serve," the people are told as they are about to take possession
of the Promised Land.  Boaz is commended for his reputation as a man who "will
not rest until he has concluded the matter this day." [Ruth 3:18]  In Psalm
97:7,8 we read "For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, And the
sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice: 'Do not harden your hearts
...'"  The writer to the Hebrews warns "exhort one another daily, while it is
called "Today" [Hebrews 3:13].  And to the repentant thief on the cross, Jesus
proclaims "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise."
[Luke 23:43]

 

    How easy it is to delay that little task, to
set aside that phone call or visit, to promise tomorrow what we should do
today.  Are we too busy to volunteer?  "Maybe tomorrow..."  Is someone counting
on us?  "Tomorrow -- they'll understand..."  Is there someone we should thank,
or encourage, or perhaps forgive?  A card to send, a letter to write?  Why not
do it now, "while it is called 'Today?'"  The Lord may have other plans for our
tomorrow.

 

"Do not boast about tomorrow, For you do not know
what a day may bring forth." [Proverbs 27:1]

Gary Fisher