The future is something that, especially right now, for many people in this country, seems to be uncertain, questionable, and even fearful. But we have began talking about solid Biblical reasons why we don’t have to worry or be fearful and distressed over the future.
1. God will be with me when I‘m distressed. Some may leave - some will leave - but God will be with me in my most distressing moments.
2. God will watch over me when I’m confused. Sometimes we don’t really know what to do. What step do we take? What move do we make? When we don’t know what to do, God has promised to watch over us. He’ll be with us, and He’ll watch over us.
But there’s more that He promises, and so let’s cover the other three promises.
3. HE WILL GO BEFORE ME WHEN I’M AFRAID - One of the fears we have is that when we get into the future somehow we’re not going to have what we need emotionally or physically or financially to make it through the crises, the things that come into our lives.
Maybe we’re real confident right now that God has been with us up to this point in our lives, but we project ahead saying, “There may be some problem or something so big and so intense, that it will leave me devastated.“ But there is no problem that God will not help us with. He’s promised to take care of our needs.
The Bible gives us a reassuring picture of God’s faithfulness in Deuteronomy 31:8 “The Lord Himself will go before you. He will not leave you or forget you so don’t be afraid and don’t worry.” This is built on how God took care of the Israelites in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament the Israelites were in Egypt for 400 years. They were slaves. Then Moses was able to lead them into freedom and then they wandered in the desert for 40 years.
While they were in the desert they built a tabernacle – a big tent – in which they could worship God. When that tent was finished God showed His pleasure in it by putting His presence in a cloud that stayed over that tabernacle during the day and then turned into a pillar of fire at night. He used this cloud by day and pillar of fire by night to show them that He was there with them and that He would lead them everywhere they needed to go.
He had said, “I’m going to take you to the Promised Land, a place you’ve never been to. It’s a good place but you don’t know how to get there. So I tell you to move when this cloud moves. When the cloud doesn’t move, you stay put.” God used His presence in that cloud to give them direction.
He talked often in the Old Testament about how He would go before them. In Exodus 13:21 it says “By day, the Lord went ahead of them.” In Deuteronomy 1:30-32 “The Lord your God who is going before you will fight for you…. The Lord your God who went ahead of you on your journey.” This is a big deal! When you are in your house and you hear a noise, ladies, don’t you want your husband to go first into that room?
Don’t you want him to go before you to make sure whoever is in the room gets him first and not you? If you’re on a road going to somebody’s house you’ve never been to before, and it’s kind of tricky to get to, it’s great to have somebody in a car in front of you, who goes before, who knows and shows you the way. You can relax when you know that somebody’s going before you.
This is what God did for His people the Israelites and He will do it for us. The Israelites as they were wandering, He knew their needs and He promised to take care of them. They needed food. There were thousands of people and they had to have food. So every morning He gave them manna. Then at night, everyday, He gave them quail. They didn’t even have to go look for the quail. They just kind of fell from the sky.
God took care of them. They needed water – thousands of people had to have lots of water. Sometimes they could just walk up to a rock and God would have water gush out of a rock in the middle of the desert to take care of their needs. They needed shoes that wouldn’t wear out. For forty years God gave them shoes that didn’t wear out. He knew what they needed, because He went before them.
God does that in my life and your life. He goes ahead of me. Because He goes ahead of me, He knows my needs. His presence to the Israelites was also an indication that He was their provider. So His presence in my life, the fact that He’s with me, also lets me be confident that He will provide my needs. Isaiah 65:24 “I will provide their needs before they ask. I will help them while they are still asking for help.”
If we know that, we shouldn’t worry. We don’t need to worry. But we often do worry. Many people have had those nighttime conversations with God on a regular basis, saying, “What if…?” this and “What if…?” that. “What if I get a call because my teenagers are out on the road? What if I get that call that every parent dreads? On an on – What if…?
*Christian growth should result in one’s ability to trust God’s faithfulness, and trust the fact that He will give me what I need for every situation.
That trust doesn’t mean that we won’t ever have any losses in the future, that bad things aren’t going to happen. We don’t know. But we can and do know that God will give me what I need. We all have our idea of what we think we need in the future. I think I need for my future: my spouse, my house, my church, my friends, my health, adequate financial support. These are things I need according to me.
But God knows what I need and He will take care of me in those times. He promised the Israelites food. He gave them manna – bread and meat. They wanted leeks and onions and garlic things to spice up the bread and quail and we have no record that God gave that to them. But He did give them what they needed. He’ll give you what you need in your future.
*Someone once wrote this in their journal:
“For my yesterdays, God, You were there. For my today’s, You are here. And for my tomorrows, You are already there. No matter what happens in the future – tragedy, loss, grief, pain, even if my worst nightmares come true, You, Lord, are there waiting. I don’t face the unknown future alone. It’s not even that You will be there, You already are! Not being limited by time or space, You await me in the future, even as You stand beside me now. You prepare the way for me. Nothing takes you by surprise. You have my needs figured out and answers ready, long before I even know I have a need. I don’t have to be afraid of the future because You, a loving God, are there waiting for me, ready to walk beside me or to carry me if need be in every difficult or painful or stressful moment. You, God, don’t tag along. You lead the way.”
The fourth common fear that people have is…you’re going to be hurt by other people in the future. The truth is, you are. You will be hurt by others in the future just like you’ve been hurt by others in the past. You may be misunderstood. You may be cheated, mistreated, betrayed.
You may be attacked and wounded and hurt in all kinds of ways physically, emotionally or in some other relational way. Certainly you’re going to be criticized, if you do anything. What do you do when you feel like you’re under attack? And when you fear the wrath or the hurt from other people?
4. GOD SAYS “I WILL FIGHT FOR YOU.” God will fight for me when I am attacked. That means that if I trust Him, He will handle those who hurt me. When we are attacked, when we’re hurt, it’s our natural tendency to get back. If somebody hurts me, I want to hurt them back. It’s a natural instinct. We want to defend ourselves, explain ourselves. We want to get even with people. That doesn’t work.
You can’t worry about getting revenge, taking retaliation or getting even with somebody and be happy at the same time. *Every moment that you’re seeking revenge is a moment you’re wasting, a moment you’re unhappy. What you need to do when people hurt you is two things:
1) Remember who’s in charge. Psalm 118:6 “The Lord is for me so I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?” One plus God equals a majority. You don’t need the approval of other people to be happy in this world. You may think you do, but you don’t. Some people are never going to give you their approval. You have to go on in spite of it. And you basically say, “I like me and God likes me and if you don’t like me, that’s your problem. What’s wrong with you?”
2) Let God defend you. Don’t ever waste any time trying to get even. In fact, when you try to get even with somebody who’s hurt you, it means you’re lowering yourself to their level. Getting even means you’re putting yourself on an even level. You’re no better than they are. When they hurt you, you’re in a superior moral position but when you try to get even you are lowering yourself to their level to get even.
Romans 12:19 “Never avenge yourselves. Leave that to God. `I will repay those that deserve it,’ says the Lord.” God is very aware of what people do to you. He will be your best defense. Psalm 18:17-18 “He delivered me from powerful enemies, from those who hated me and were too strong for me. They attacked me at a moment when I was weakest, but the Lord upheld me.”
As a minister, I’ve got a lot of criticism. If I spent all my time trying to answer every critic, trying to make everybody happy, trying to defend myself, nothing would ever get done. I have decided that I don’t have time for the trivial!
Here’s what you do when you’re criticized. If it’s true, you listen and you learn from it. If it’s untrue, you ignore it and forget it. Either way, you ultimately realize that God is the ultimate judge of your life, not somebody else. If God is for me, the Bible says, who can be against me?
Some of the injustices in this world are not going to be resolved until the judgment day. We have to wait for that. There will be some evil people who get away with evil in this world. And there are people who will hurt you and seem to get by. But there is going to be a judgment day. One day God, who’s a just God, is going to settle the score, even the odds, balance the books, pay it up, and administer justice and righteousness.
You may have to wait for that right now. But God says, “I will fight for you when you’re attacked.” Not all the attacks come from people. Some of the attacks in your life come from Satan. We call that temptation. In your future, you’re going to have new problems, new pressures, new opportunities. But something that’s not going to change is temptation. Not only will God help me when humans attack me. He’ll fight for me when Satan attacks me. You know, we all have struggles. We all have areas of struggles that seem to be recurring downfalls in our lives.
Whatever tends to be your area of weakness today may very well be your area of weakness in the future. Whether it’s a temper, anger, moodiness, laziness, and so on. *Some things we are delivered from. Others, we are disciplined from. It takes an effort on our part to live above those pitfalls. And some of us, probably all of us, find ourselves dealing with recurring issues. Don’t be discouraged by that.
The good news is that God understands your struggles and He will help you in the future just like He’ll help you today if you’ll let Him. He’ll help you grow and you’ll find yourself becoming stronger against those temptations. Sometimes the temptations actually get stronger as you grow. But you’re stronger too and so you can handle them, because you’re maturing, you’re learning, and you’re growing up.
God says don’t be intimidated by this. He says, “I will help you.” That’s another one of the great promises of God. He says, “I will fight for you.” 1 Corinthians 10:13 “No temptation is irresistible. You can trust God to keep the temptation from becoming so strong you can’t stand up against it for He has promised this and He will do what He says. He will show you how to escape.”
The fact is, God says, “I will never allow more temptation on you than you can handle.” Never will more be put on you than will be put in you to bear it up. He says “No temptation is irresistible”. When you start to say, “I couldn’t help myself. It was just too strong. I had to give in,” you’re lying. Because the Bible says, “No temptation is irresistible. He will show you how to escape.” There is a way out. God promises it. If you will believe God’s promises, you won’t be intimidated when the devil comes because God is going to fight for you.
5. GOD WILL WORK IN ME UNTIL I’M COMPLETED - Sometimes before people become Christians, and they’re thinking about being a Christian, they consider all of the requirements or expectations. They then look at themselves and say, “I could never meet up with what it takes to be a Christian. I might give up half way through and decide I don’t want to be a Christian any more. I’d let God down and be embarrassed.”
*Sometimes people delay making a commitment to Jesus Christ because of this fear that they won’t be able to hang on. *Sometimes people don’t get married for that same reason. They think, “How could I stay married to the same person all my life? It’s impossible.” So they delay getting married. Sometimes people don’t join a church for the same reason, “Maybe I won’t be able to hold out.” They delay in making that commitment.
The Bible has some encouragement for us. In Philippians 1:6 “God began doing a good work in you and I am sure He will continue it until it is finished when Jesus Christ comes again.” The Bible tells us that God wants us all to be conformed to the image of Christ.
Did you know that this means that God is not just sporadically working on you, but that He has a blueprint of what He’s trying to make you into? Sometimes we feel like we’re never going to get there.
We feel like God is tired of working on us, or tired of putting up with our sins, failures, and frailties. But we have to hang on. We get really discouraged as we look at ourselves and say, “God, You’ve been working on me for so long!” He will complete His work in us. The work He began, He will complete.
Understand this, though: Your life and my life is not going to be finished – not this week, not this year, next year. It will not be finished until we meet Jesus Christ face to face and that work on our character that He’s been doing all these years will finally be finished.
Until then, we’ve got to know that God is still interested in us, and that even if we can’t visibly see Him at work in our lives sometimes, we can be assured, that, He that has begun a good work, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.
You don’t have to worry about the future. God is with you, He’ll watch over you, He’ll go before me when I’m afraid and prepare the way, supplying all my needs, He’ll fight for you when men or Satan attacks you, and He will continue to work in you and on you, until the day of Jesus Christ.
With a God that involved, that mighty, and that powerful, you should easily see Why You Don’t Have To Worry About The Future.
