Facing Tomorrow with Faith

In Hebrews 11:7 we are told of Noah who, “being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household.” Here at the beginning of a new year we are probably all a little (or a lot) concerned about what this year will hold. And with good reason. Last year was a doozy, right?! What can we learn about facing tomorrow with faith?

But the Bible gives us a lot of reason to “construct an ark” to help us make it through 2021. Meditate and reflect on these verses:

• “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow” (Matthew 6:34)
• “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’— yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that” (James 4:13-15)
• “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” (Matthew 6:25-27)

The truth is, we have no idea what the future will bring us, but we have the absolute assurance of who holds our future. He is the one who has “engraved you on the palms of [His] hands” (Isaiah 49:16). The image I get when I read that is of a tattoo: Can’t scrub it off, can’t rub it off. The tattoo needle was the spike driven through His hands at Calvary.

This is the same “eternal God (who) is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:27).

Reading the rest of Hebrews 11:7 we find the result of Noah’s act of faith: “By this he condemned the world and becamean heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.” Here at the beginning of the new year, make it your prayer that by your faith you will be a beacon of lxight in a dark world, pointing people to Jesus, the Light of the world.

Many things about tomorrow
I don’t seem to understand
But I know who holds tomorrow
And I know who holds my hand.^[1]

Go Deeper

• The Biblical Case for the Rapture of all Christians – 2021 Package
• The John Ankerberg Show Presents: Through the Book of Revelation with Dr. Jimmy DeYoung

^[1] Ira F. Stanphill, “I Know Who Holds Tomorrow,” © Warner Chappell Music, Inc.