When you're dreading tomorrow.

When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the former as well as the latter. Therefore, a man cannot discover anything about his future.

Ecclesiastes 7:14

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I guess you can say that it's quite inconvenient that God does not usually explain his immediate actions nor reveal his immediate purposes for what happens in our lives, especially when we're in dread. And it leaves us hanging over whether tomorrow might bring joy or despair—we just cannot know for sure, although it is no secret to God.

Yet it is a beautiful thing that God has revealed his ultimate purposes for his children: to be pardoned of sin, to be justified by faith through grace, and to share in the glory of our risen Saviour Jesus. It will be a day where there will no longer be any shame nor guilt nor dread nor anxiety.

So for those who are anxious about tomorrow:

1. If God is to grant you peace and blessing, then may you receive it with thanks and praise to God. 
2. If God is to grant you suffering and hardship, then may you receive it remembering that God works for the good of those who love him–that our momentary troubles are refining our faith and character to be like gold, fitting us for entry into the glorious kingdom of heaven above.
3. And in everything, pray—present your requests and thanks before God our Father in patience and in trust.

Let us fix our eyes on our home of righteousness in heaven, and let not the troubles of this life move us.

Favourite quotes:

Unhappy songs addressed to God, ftw.

Psalm 13
For the director of music. A psalm of David.

How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts 
and day after day have sorrow in my heart? 
How long will my enemy triumph over me? 

Look on me and answer, O LORD my God. 
Give light to my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, 
lest my enemy say, “I have overcome him,” 
lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. 

But I trust in your unfailing love; 
my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. 
I will sing to the LORD, 
for he has been good to me.
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It is a comfort to be able to read God's word to find that he understands how you feel—crap and all.

I feel indebted to the psalmists who, despite their immense angst and suffering, continued to trust in the goodness and salvation that God promised his people. And although it was not revealed to them, they would've been overjoyed to have known the mysteries of Christ, of what he has done and what he will do.