I Don’t Know About Tomorrow

I don’t know about tomorrow,
I just live from day to day;
I don’t borrow from its sunshine,
For its skies may turn to grey.
I don’t worry o’er the future,
For I know what Jesus said;
And today I’ll walk beside Him,
For He knows what is ahead.

Ira Stanphill wrote about 400 gospel songs. He wrote this in 1950. His wife had left him; he went through a period of deep depression. He was tempted to give up Christian work completely; for a time he wrote nothing at all.

Writing this song marked a new start for him.  

Ev’ry step is getting brighter
As the golden stairs I climb;
Ev’ry burden’s getting lighter,
Ev’ry cloud is silver-lined.
There the sun is always shining,
There no tear will dim the eye,
At the ending of the rainbow
Where the mountains touch the sky.

We can view our future with fear or excited anticipation. Ira was positive and optimistic about his.

For some the future is about their holiday, job, family…; for others it’s about surviving their cancer treatment, Covid, redundancy… For some it’s about learning to live with bereavement, disappointment or regret; for others it’s enjoying and making the most of today.

I don’t know about tomorrow,
It may bring me poverty;
But the one who feeds the sparrow
Is the one who stands by me.
And the path that be my portion
May be through the flame or flood;
But His presence goes before me
And I’m covered with His blood.

I can’t predict tomorrow. My health, family situation, friends’ welfare, financial state are all uncertain. I share Ira’s faith. To quote another gospel song ‘His eye is on the sparrow , and I know he watches me’. God holds my tomorrow. That’s enough for me.

Many things about tomorrow
I don’t seem to understand;
But I know who holds tomorrow,
And I know who holds my hand.