“The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” (Job 1:21)
First recorded in John Calvin’s Life and Conversion of a Christian Man (1549), the saying “Here today . . . Gone tomorrow” underscores the brevity of life. You sometimes see this phrase used in advertising to describe an item that will not be available for long. I would like to offer you a word of encouragement today by showing you how to appropriate this phrase for your life.
What is here today—whether good or bad . . . positive or negative . . . blessing or burden . . . up or down—will be gone tomorrow. It is tremendously important to grasp the truth of this proverb! If this message finds you in the midst of storm winds that are blowing, you can be sure brighter days are ahead. There are no permanent storms. They come and they go, and it is wisdom to live in the light of this unchanging truth.
If this message finds you in the midst of a season of great abundance and prosperity, hold on loosely! What is here today may very well be gone tomorrow. No one understood this truth better than Job, the upright and righteous servant of God. Having lost his wealth, health, and all ten of his children, he still worshipped his God because he knew that everything he had was simply a gift from a God who is ultimately and always good. We must receive great blessings from God with the understanding that all of them may be here today and gone tomorrow.
So . . . where does this find you today? If you are buried under the crashing waves of challenge, know that soon you will be riding the crest of one of those waves. God will take your burdens today and turn them into your blessings tomorrow. And if you are standing at the summit where the view is magnificent, you can be sure that the valley looms before you. This pattern in life seems to suggest that God delivers to us exactly what we need in order to live in the balanced way He has called us to.
The truth of “Here today . . . Gone tomorrow” should fix our focus on what is unchanging—and His name is Jesus Christ. Our life circumstances are constantly changing as God ordains and wills it to be. The only way to rise above those changing circumstances is to center our lives on the constantly unchanging Christ. If blessing is your lot today, burden is not far away. And if burden is your lot today, blessing in on its way. “Here today . . . Gone tomorrow” is a powerful proverb to keep in view; as we do, we will echo Job in saying, “May the name of the Lord be praised.”
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 