March 8
Verse of the Day for March 8
Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.Matthew 6:34 KJV
The Key of Stillness · Day 8 of 31
Reflection · 4 min read
Take No Thought For The Morrow
This is the passage about the birds and the lilies, and it is often read as a gentle nature poem. It is not. It is a hard argument delivered to people who were genuinely poor and had real reason to be afraid of running out.
Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Take no thought for the morrow. The phrase in older English does not mean stop planning — it means stop being anxious about. Jesus is not against sowing and reaping; he uses farming as the illustration.
What he ends on is the strange clause: sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Today has enough trouble in it already.
That is not comfort in the usual sense. He is not saying it will be fine. He is conceding that each day has its own share of difficulty, and pointing out that borrowing tomorrow's on top of today's does not distribute the load, it doubles it.
You will get the grace for Thursday on Thursday. Trying to feel it on Tuesday is why Tuesday is unbearable.
Today has enough in it.You cannot spend Thursday's grace on Tuesday.
This is the least sentimental verse about anxiety in the Bible. It does not promise an easy week. It rations the difficulty to one day at a time.
That rationing is the mercy.
Carry this today
Which day's trouble are you carrying that has not arrived?
Pray
Read Matthew 6:25–34
25Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 26Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 28And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 31Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32(For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Keep praying
Reflection by Collins Asein, from the daily devotionals in the PrayerKey app. Bible text: King James Version.