One Day at A Time.

A Day at A Time. 

(abridged)

by Arch Alexander

"...as your days, so shall your strength be."  Duteronomy 33:25

This is a great and glorious promise. And just a couple of verses further on, "The eternal God is your refuge and underneath are the everlasting arms."  verse 27

Notice how the promise runs. Not as your life is, not as your years are, not even as your weeks are, but as your days, so shall your strength be. For each day as it comes. God's promise is that strength will be given you, but just for a day at a time. Leave tomorrow with God, my brother, until it comes. That is what the word of God lays upon you as a duty. Live this day at your best and bravest, trusting that God's help will not fail you. And for the duties and trials of tomorrow, however hard and heavy, believe that strength for that day also will be given you.

You cannot have failed to observe what an important place this way of life had in the teaching of Jesus Christ. He was always trying to get men to trust the coming days to God, and to live fully, worthily and nobly today. He was dead against the practice of adding to the burdens of today fears and forebodings of tomorrow. It is in love to us, in his desire to save us unnecessary pain, that he bids us remember that, "...do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34

The habit of living ahead, as so many of us do, prevents us from getting the full taste and flavor of the happiness and blessing that is ours today. Leave all your tomorrows with God - it is what he wants you to do - and humbly and gratefully take from his hand his gift of today and the strength that comes with it. 

Psalm 37:5-8 - Our attitude.

Psalm 37 - What it means to me.

"Commit your way to the Lord;

trust in him and he will do this:

He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn,

your vindication like the noonday sun.

Be still before the Lord

and wait patiently for him

Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;

do not fret—it leads only to evil."  Psalm 37: 5-8

Commit, trust, be still, wait patiently, refrain from anger, do not fret... This should be our attitude when we bring something to God. Perhaps something in life is bothering us a great deal. Someone may be harassing or harming us. Maybe it seems like the world around us is full of evil. 

But God does not want us to be filled with negative thoughts. We can look up towards God and leave things with him. We can give our thoughts and feelings to him and ask for help to think in the right way. 

Psalm37 - Don't Sweat It.

Psalm 37 - What it means to me.

"Do not fret because of those who are evil

or be envious of those who do wrong;

for like the grass they will soon wither,

like green plants they will soon die away."  Verses 1,2

We see evil rulers all over our world who do evil deeds continually. They usually have billions of dollars while their people are in deep poverty. God tells us not to fret because of these people. Their life is like a house plant in my home - it soon withers away! This life is all they have and also they will be punished for the harm they caused others. They will not burn in hell forever and ever, as some people say. But they will receive the same punishment that they gave to others.

"The day of the LORD is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head." Obadiah 1:15

After fretting, God tells us not to envy those who do wrong. Why would we do this? I think we would envy the money, power and freedom these people seem to have. We look at a billionaire and think, "Oh, how I wish I could have a mansion and a yacht. It would be wonderful to never worry about money again." I don't think we know how fortunate we are not to be rich. For Jesus said, "How hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." Luke 18:24

"Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you."  Hebrews s13:5