Tomorrow Is Uncertain

“Do not boast about tomorrow, For you do not know what a day may bring forth.” (Proverbs 27:1, NASV).

Tomorrow is uncertain. We should not count as definite what we plan to do for we do not know what that elusive “tomorrow” holds. Eugene Peterson in The Message Bible renders the verse: “Don’t harshly announce what you’re going to do tomorrow; you don’t know the first thing about tomorrow.”

It is hard to draw the line between being boastful and concerned about tomorrow and being so lackadaisical that we set no goals for the future or make any plans whatsoever, allowing whatever may to come, as in the song, “What will be, will be.” In that case, why plan to get an education? Tomorrow may not come, so why would we have a need for preparation? Why, then, did the wise man who wrote this proverb warn us to beware of boasting about tomorrow? The emphasis here seems to be on the word boast. We cannot say with assurance that we will do a certain thing or accomplish specific goals on the morrow, for, behold, today is the time we have. Yet, even in today, we can work as though tomorrow will come and have faith that God, who controls all of time, will work out His will in granting us the days allotted to us.

Horace, a great Italian philosopher who lived from about 65-8 B. C., had probing concerns about tomorrow. He stated: “Drop the question what tomorrow may bring, and count as profit every day that Fate allows you.” He is also responsible for the often-quoted “carp diem,” which we translate “seize the day”. The quotation containing this Latin phrase, translated, reads: “While we’re talking, time will have meanly run on; pick today’s fruits (or carp diem), not relying on the future in the slightest.” The idea is to seize today. It is here for us to enjoy, to gain benefits from, to live wholly in. One of my favorite quotations along this line is Psalm 118:24: “This is the day which the Lord hath made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” I quote this nearly every morning upon awaking, thanking God for another day of life. Jesus taught about the folly of earnestly seeking to lay up treasures upon earth because of the uncertainty and brevity of life (Luke 12:16-23). See also in His “Sermon on the Mount” where he taught: “Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” (Matthew 6:34, NKJV). James, too, wrote on this theme: “Some of you say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to some city. We will stay there a year, do business, and make money.’ But you do not know what will happen tomorrow! Your life is like a mist. You can see it for a short time, but then it goes away.” (James 4:13-14, NIV). Someone has wisely observed: “Today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.”

To close out thoughts on avoiding the uncertainties of tomorrow, I end with an original poem:

One Day at a Time

If we could but the secret find
Of one day at a time,
We’d borrow not tomorrow’s fears
And neither look behind
To yesterday’s regrets and tears,
Nor rue today’s firm tread,
But fill life full of love and joy
And happiness instead.

In our concern to push ahead
We grab and gulp and pine,
Not understanding precious peace
Of one day at a time.
Lord, grant us patience thus to live
And give us grace to find
The sheer delight of present tense,
Of one day at a time.

-Ethelene Dyer Jones (c1984)

Lord, may we live fully for You today. “Today is the first day of the rest of our lives.” Amen.

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Thursday, July 29, 2010