Connecting Points

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Today’s Topic:  Thanks for Tomorrow

Today’s Text:  Isaiah 14:24  The LORD Almighty has sworn, “Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand.”

So, what are your plans for the day? It’s amazing how proficient we have become with planning out our days. We have days planned weeks in advance. We have calendars on the fridge, in our purses (if we’re ladies), and on our cell phones. We lock in dates for activities and trips and kids events and even church events. We get downright discouraged and sometimes frustrated when our plans don’t work out. Most plans are self-centered and self-fulfilling. We make them because of the benefit we will receive. Planning has become our idol.

Agnes Goddard of Oceanside, California tells this story about motives.

My granddaughter, Hannah, begged me long-distance to come help her celebrate her sixth birthday. Unable to resist, I made my plans to join the family. When we sat down for the birthday dinner, my son asked Hannah if she would like to bless the food on her birthday. “Oh, yes, Daddy,” she said. She closed her eyes and began, “Dear Lord, thank you for Mommy and this good food she fixed. Thank you for letting Grandma come here today.” Pausing momentarily, Hannah opened her eyes to peek at me before she continued. “And please Lord, let us have a good time at ‘Toys R Us’ this afternoon.”

 It is very easy for us to run our own lives for our own benefit, isn’t it? What appears on the surface to be a kind gesture or an act of service may actually be an attempt to satisfy some fleshly desire. I suspect that much of what we have on our calendars are plans that are so significant to the building of our own little kingdoms that we would be upset if God interrupted them with His plan.

Here’s a test for you. For tomorrow, clear your calendar of ALL items that aren’t absolutely necessary for work. Take every personal item off. As soon as you’ve done that, close your eyes and pray this prayer – “God, thank you for tomorrow because I know the plans you have for me will be good.” Can you do it? Can you really be thankful for tomorrow when you have no idea what is going to happen?

He was just a little fellow. His mother died when he was just a child. His father, in trying to be both mommy and daddy, had planned a picnic. The little boy had never been on a picnic, so they made their plans, fixed the lunch, and packed the car. Then it was time to go to bed, for the picnic was the next day. He just couldn’t sleep. He tossed and he turned, but the excitement got to him. Finally, he got out of bed, ran into the room where his father had already fallen asleep, and shook him. His father woke up and saw his son. He said to him, “What are you doing up? What’s the matter?”

The boy said, “I can’t sleep.”

The father asked, “Why can’t you sleep?”

In answering, the boy said, “Daddy, I’m excited about tomorrow.”

His father replied, “Well, Son, I’m sure you are, and it’s going to be a great day, but it won’t be great if we don’t get some sleep. So why don’t you just run down the hall, get back in bed, and get a good night’s rest.”

So the boy trudged off down the hall to his room and got in bed. Before long, sleep came—to the father, that is. It wasn’t long thereafter that the little boy was back. He was pushing and shoving his father, and his father opened his eyes. Harsh words almost blurted out until he saw the expression on the boy’s face. The father asked, “What’s the matter now?”

The boy said, “Daddy, I just want to thank you for tomorrow.”

When I think of my past and the fact that a loving Father would not let me go, reached down in his divine providence, and lifted me out of a life of sin, when I think of what he has done for me and then think that he is planning a new thing for me that will surpass the past, let the record show this day in this place that John D. van Gorkom testified, Father, I want to thank you for tomorrow!

Pastor John