[This is one in a series of mid-week Reflections published by Horley Baptist Church during May 2020]
Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away, now it looks as though they’re here to stay.
Suddenly, I’m not half the man I used to be; there’s a shadow hanging over me,
Yesterday came suddenly. Now I long for yesterday.
Some words from a song that may echo from the past but yet seem so relevant some 55 years after they were sung by the Beatles. What happened to those good old days that we used to call ‘these trying times’? Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be!
Is looking back too negative for you? Then try these words from William Shakespeare:
“Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow creep in this petty pace from day to day until the last syllable of recorded time, and all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to dusty death.”
He wasn’t so positive about the future either.
What does God’s word say about yesterday and tomorrow? In the NIV there are 8 references to ‘yesterday’ and 56 to ‘tomorrow’. Does this indicate their relative importance? Job declared “we were born only yesterday and know nothing, and our days on earth are but a shadow.” James takes a different perspective but arrives at a similar conclusion. Echoing Proverbs 27, he says “You do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.”
But what about today? If we can indeed take the number of references as an indication of importance then the 205 entries for ‘today’ (and the 118 mentions of ‘this day’) should make us pay attention.
In 2 Corinthians 6 Paul reminds us that “today is the time of God’s favour, today is the day of salvation.” (LTV) Joshua invites us to: “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24 v15)
However, perhaps the most important reference is the one that includes all three of our time scales. Hebrews 13 v8 tells us: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever.” What is there to add?
O Thou who changes not, abide with me!
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Contributed by Steve Humphreys; © the Author
