Be not careful therefore for the morrow, for the morrow shall be careful about itself. Sufficient to the day [is] its own evil.
Jesus closes His teaching on worry by drawing a line around the day you are actually living in. It raises a practical question. Is planning ahead forbidden, or the fear that eats away at the heart?
Dread of tomorrow as unbelief
The command treats fear of a coming evil as a failure of trust. One writer notes that the feared thing often never arrives — and that even when it does, God is there:
"Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself." Our Lord is preparing us for this. The anxiety that dreads some evil thing tomorrow is nothing but unbelief. When tomorrow comes, the evil may not be there. If it does come, God will be there... Often, when the heart bows to God's will about a sorrow we dread, God takes the sorrow away and meets us with unexpected kindness and goodness.
Anxiety also has a direction. It looks forward:
And there is another characteristic about anxiety. It looks ahead without faith. Unbelief draws dark pictures of despair and fills the mind with a day that may never come.
The limit on what you carry
The second half of the verse sets a boundary on how much a person is meant to bear at once. Take on tomorrow's load and you carry weight that God has given you no grace for:
He also sets a limit on care, and that limit by itself rules most care out. How much of the burden we carry really belongs to tomorrow? It is a burden that is not ours yet. Who can tell what tomorrow will bring? Each day will have enough evil of its own. It is never too much, because a careful hand has measured it out. But when we borrow trouble that has not come yet, we make the day's burden too heavy, and we cannot count on God's grace for what has not come... How often has His love disappointed all our fears in ways we never dreamed of!
Planning versus anxious care
Commentators are careful not to turn this verse into a ban on forethought. One writer looks at the word behind "take thought" and finds the idea of a heart pulled in two directions:
In all this, what is forbidden is not thinking about tomorrow, but anxious care. The word itself comes from one that suggests "division," and so a "distracted" heart... James blames only the confident tone of that speech, not all planning for tomorrow. That should be plain: if the opposite were true, the whole course of our lives would have to change.
The same distinction shows up in ordinary family duties:
We believe the Christian must provide for his family, day by day. He must educate his children and set them on the way to earning an honest living... But those duties are one thing. Hoarding money and speculating are another... We believe that hoarding covers the soul with rust and speculation fills the heart and mind with care and anxiety.
The wording is stronger here than earlier
Verse 34 is not simply a repeat of what came before. One writer finds the command sharpening at the end:
The disciples were not to make anxiety about food and clothing a habit. Even a brief look at the birds, or at the lilies, might well correct it. They were not to be anxious at all, said the Lord — not for the morrow. It is a stronger statement, excluding even a single instance.
Ground for rest
The command has a foundation under it. The one who holds tomorrow is the believer's Father:
But why should the child of God give way to anxiety about tomorrow? He can be glad and bold, sure of his Father's love, and free to do His will today, whatever the trial. God is above tomorrow's anxiety too, and the believer can cast it on Him if it comes. "Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." Christ is our burden-bearer.
Experience confirms it. One writer adds another reason the dreaded day may never come:
How often have we worried about what tomorrow would bring, and then, when it came, found that the Lord stepped in... To remember that your Father knows, is to put the heart at peace. And we might never have to face tomorrow at all. The Lord may come before it arrives.
The one thing not to postpone
There is a reverse application. The same uncertainty that makes worry pointless makes delay dangerous:
If a warning to believers does not include you, you are in special danger. You are putting off until tomorrow the call of the gospel that God makes to you today... Delay will only increase your sins and harden your heart... How many have put off to a tomorrow that never came!
Summary
- Today's evil — each day carries a measured portion. A careful hand set the size. It is enough, and never too much.
- Today's grace — God gives grace for the day He gives it. You cannot draw on it early for a trouble that has not come.
- Today's work — providing, teaching your children and earning are duties. Jesus forbids the distracted heart, not planning.
- Today's Father — tomorrow is in His hands, and Christ carries the burden. Not even one moment of anxiety is called for.
- Today's decision — never postpone the gospel call. Many have put it off to a tomorrow that never came.