January 1

Tomorrow

What Lies Ahead?
We don’t know what lies ahead. Or perhaps, we do know.

• We will be surprised by good news we never expected and by setbacks we did not foresee.
• Friends will come through for us in ways that draw them closer to our hearts and others will fail us requiring a special, painful kind of love called forgiveness.
• We will sense the will of God and form a plan of action that will succeed beyond our dreams.
• Other plans we were sure were the will of God will fizzle and die or blow up in our faces.

The seasons will change and so will we.
Perhaps the changes will be gradual like the graying of our hair or sudden like an illness, but changes will happen. We will look different and maybe sound different, but beneath those surface changes the same old brain will rattle along and the same true heart will keep beating as the familiar point of view we have cultivated since childhood shows us things to laugh at, things to wonder about, and the things to forget about.

Speechless moments will come when words fail us and at other times there will be a torrent of words unleashed in prayer or praise or in precious conversation with friends.

The sun will rise each morning, even when the skies are overcast and it will set each evening in splendor promising another dawn tomorrow. Night will follow day as millions of stars signal that their Maker is ours, too.

We will carry two burdens into each new day:

• a history best forgotten and
• one that is better remembered.

We must shed the one and embrace the other.

• The history that hurts is a thing of regret and shame that seeks to trap us in yesterday’s dilemmas and defeats.
• In the history that teaches and promises and encourages, we find prophecies of tomorrow’s adventures.

The details of what lies ahead are unknown to us but they are clear to the Lord. Through the Apostle he invites us to forget the constricting, paralyzing past and press on to what lies ahead. He is already there and He is prepared.

Scripture:
Philippians 3:12-16 NASU
Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, by Your Abiding Spirit within me, help me to remember the right things and forget the things best forgotten.  Give me the courage required if I am to follow in Your steps.  Cloth me in compassion for those who do not know you yet; they are bound in chains they cannot see.  Fill me with love for You, Your House, and Your People; we, too, are bound together by the blessed chains of grace.  Thank you that your mercies are new every morning.  Amen.

Song:
Where He Leads Me
Words: E.W. Blandy  Music: J.S. Norris

1. I can hear my Savior calling,
I can hear my Savior calling,
I can hear my Savior calling,
“Take Thy cross and follow, follow Me.”

Refrain:
Where He leads me I will follow,
Where He leads me I will follow,
Where He leads me I will follow,
I’ll go with Him, with Him all the way.

2. He will give me grace and glory,
He will give me grace and glory,
He will give me grace and glory,
And go with me, with me all the way. (Refrain)

Semper Reformanda!
Stephen Phifer