“Some of your hurts you have cured,

And the sharpest you still have survived.

But what torments of grief you endured,

From evils that never arrived!”

Whether he knew it or not, Ralph Waldo Emerson was telling us about a scriptural principle:

Don’t worry about what “might happen”.

We waste so much time and energy playing the unknown script of tomorrow in our heads.  We think the worst.  We wonder what we’ll do.  We wonder how we’ll get through.

God knew we’d struggle with that.  We’re silly humans.  And that’s why He reminds us over and over again…

Don’t be anxious. (Philippians 4:6)

Don’t worry about your life. (Matthew 6:25)

Cast your cares on Him. (1 Peter 5:7)

God knows all about tomorrow.  Nothing will catch Him by surprise.  And if it can’t catch Him by surprise, there is really nothing for us to worry about.

We need to stop tormenting ourselves with “evils that haven’t arrived”.  If they do, God has prepared us and will provide everything we need to face them.  And if they don’t, we won’t have to lament over the grief we’ve endured, and how much time we wasted giving them more thought than they deserved.

Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.  Matthew 6:34

Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.  Lamentations 3:22-23

So we may boldly say: “The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”  Hebrews 13:6