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bigmike

There’s Hope for Tomorrow!
Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you.” Joshua 3:5
Friend, what do you have planned for tomorrow? You may not be sure. Some people say, “Forget tomorrow. Let’s eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die!” If that describes your attitude, something important is missing in your life—it is the element of hope; hope that tomorrow will hold the answers to the questions and problems you have struggled with today.
Is it presumptuous to pin your hopes on tomorrow? Not for a minute. Some 61 times the Bible speaks of tomorrow. While it warns about being presumptuous, about avoiding your duty or responsibility today, thinking that you will get around to something tomorrow—it nonetheless speaks of tomorrow as a new opportunity to see God do things which aren’t going to take place today. Long ago, Joshua told Israel to cleanse and purify themselves because Joshua told the people—in his words, “tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you” (Joshua 3:5).
Is it only wishful thinking to focus on tomorrow? No, and here’s why! God doesn’t always give you instant solutions to the problems of today. Some things just can’t be fixed with the rapidity of making instant coffee or just saying the words or waving a magic wand in the air. But because you believe God is in control, that the promises of His word are true, you rest your hopes on tomorrow and face today as best you can.
Read the biographies of those who have been unjustly imprisoned, and you will learn that hope for tomorrow—that undying, unflagging belief that tomorrow, things may be better—was the only thing that kept them alive. In prison, men and women look out through the bars and the barbed wire and think about tomorrow. People on hospital beds recover—at times from illnesses that should have taken their lives—when they refuse to give up today and believe that: tomorrow, they will feel better.
Friend, today is the bridge that takes you to the sunrise of tomorrow! And with the rising of tomorrow’s sun, there is new hope that your life can be different, that it can be beautiful!
Do you remember the Broadway musical Annie? There is a haunting and penetrating song sung by the heart-capturing redheaded little girl that goes, “Tomorrow, tomorrow. I love you, tomorrow. You’re only a day away!”
The very good news is that nothing that ever happens in life comes as a surprise to our Heavenly Father, so when tomorrow arrives, God will be there to welcome you and to take your hand and help you understand tomorrow can be beautiful!
Never, ever give up hope that tomorrow’s sunrise will bring tomorrow’s blessings and that as today’s dusk turns to night, there is rest and sleep to give you new strength to face tomorrow!
If you are one of those wonderful friends who often hears or reads Guidelines, you know that I stress the importance of focusing on today, making the most of it; but I also am thankful that no matter how we have failed or fallen short of our potential today, as long as there is God and life, there is hope for tomorrow! Hope is a marvelous medicine to your soul, a reason to keep on keeping on today, doing the best you can. The words of Joshua long ago, “… tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you,” helps you get through a rough day, perhaps a long night as well.
Yes, tomorrow can be beautiful. As Annie sings, “Just thinking about tomorrow clears away the cobwebs and the sorrows till there’s none,” friend, walk across the bridge of today, and meet God as a new day dawns tomorrow.
Resource reading: Joshua 3:1-17

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