Care for the Morrow

Preached on 09-23-01

CARE FOR THE MORROW

A Sermon by the Rev. Patrick A. Rose

"Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself." (Matt. 6:34)

AS A NATION we are facing unsettled times. We face unknown dangers in the months ahead. What lies ahead is unknown, and when people are faced with the unknown, they react in different ways. Some people are decidedly uncomfortable as they contemplate an unsettled future. They think of all the terrible things that might happen, and of all the problems and difficulties that may confront us, and they feel overcome with worry and depression. Other people feel far more confident, and assume that things will work out, and that happiness and prosperity lie ahead, and they believe that they will somehow be immune to misfortune. The first group pessimistically assumes the worst. The second group perhaps overconfidently assumes that nothing will go wrong. But then there are other people -- people who face what lies ahead without any preconceptions, yet without undue worry. They are undisturbed by any thoughts of what might lie ahead, for they know full well that the Lord is watching over us all.

Much of our happiness and enjoyment in life revolves around this issue of how we view the future. In this, as in all things, we should be governed by the teachings of the Lord. And the teaching of the Lord on this subject is both clear and to the point -- we are not to be solicitous or anxious for the morrow: "Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself." If we ignore this teaching of the Lord we make a serious mistake -- indeed, we commit an evil. To indulge in excessive worry about the future, and to fail to trust in the Lord, is wrong. And, like any evil, it will, sooner or later, bring us unhappiness and misery.

This is of course, not simply an issue at this time, a time when this nation is threatened. It has to do with people's philosophy of life in general. Whether the times are peaceful or whether there be rumors of war, it is wrong to worry excessively about the future, for it brings nothing but misery.

A person who is worried about the future and who does not trust in the Lord is indeed already miserable. When he has troubles and misfortunes, he worries that there will be no end to them. And when things are going well for him, when he is prospering, even then he still dreads the worst. He is obsessed with the future, obsessed with worry, to the point where his whole mind is weighted down. When a man is overly concerned for the things of this world, such thoughts, we are told, "carry the lower mind downward, and are like weights which drag it down" (AC 6210).

Now the person who is weighted down with worry about his future in this world may feel that his attitude is a realistic one. After all, he thinks to himself, there are so many different things that can and often do go wrong. This may well be the case, but what he doesn't realize is that the essential cause behind his anxiety does not lie in the uncertainties of an always imperfect world. The real cause for his anxiety is to be found within himself, and with the spiritual associations he has invited. Undue worry about the future comes from infestation by evil spirits.

The Writings describe how Swedenborg went through a period of being disturbed by all kinds of worries. He was troubled about money matters, about the character of the people taking care of his house, about what he was to write, and so on (SD 3624). He observed that he hadn't been troubled by such things in the past. And he noticed that the reason he was now worrying about them was because he was being infested by evil spirits (ibid.).

Swedenborg was aware of the spirits around him. We are not. And so we tend to forget the fact that there are spirits influencing us. It doesn't always occur to us, when our minds are troubled, that evil spirits are present. We tend to forget that when we do what is evil, this evil inevitably associates us with evil spirits, spirits who encourage us in our evil, and who bring with them a sphere of sadness and misery.

This is what happens to us when we allow ourselves to worry, when we allow ourselves to commit the sin of not trusting in the Lord. If we allow our thoughts to dwell on a concern for things which might happen in the future, we are in danger of being overwhelmed by an infestation of spirits from hell -- something that will hurt us physically, mentally and spiritually.

On the physical plane, worry affects the body. It can destroy a person's health. And because those spirits who are attracted by worry bear relation to the stomach of the Grand Man, worry especially affects the health of the stomach. As we read in the Arcana: "As solicitude about things to come is what produces anxiety in man, and as such spirits appear in the region of the stomach, therefore anxieties affect the stomach more than the other organs" (AC 5178). It is no wonder, then, that stomach problems are commonly associated with anxiety about the future.

Mental health is also affected. Melancholy, or depression, is directly linked by the Writings to solicitude for the morrow. So too are various types of insanity. The Writings teach that "the Lord alone makes provision that man may not come into . . . insanities, and thence into innumerable phantasies; and in order to prevent this, He commands that we shall have no care for the morrow" (SD 3628). And so it is that to disobey the Lord by worrying excessively about the future makes a man especially susceptible to insanity.

As for our spiritual health, to be solicitous for the morrow and to fail to trust in the Lord is extremely harmful indeed. It cuts us off from influx from heaven, and it immerses us in the sphere of hell.

WHAT THEN SOMEONE DO if he or she is "a worrier"? How is he to go about changing his outlook on life? Obviously, the answer lies in turning to the Lord and placing one's trust in Him. And yet we should be clear just what this trust actually involves. Many people think they have trust in the Lord, but they in fact trust in Him in the wrong way.

First of all, in order to trust in the Lord, a person must believe in Him, and believe that He governs the universe. Without a belief in God, a man has nothing at all to uplift him from his worries. If things go badly, he has no real consolation, no higher power to which to turn. If a man believes in the Lord, though, he knows that the Lord will look after him, the Lord will protect him.

But a person's belief in the Lord must involve more than a naïve trust that the Lord will keep him from worldly misfortune. It is relatively easy to trust in the Lord when things go well for us. We can then ascribe our good fortune to the Lord (cf. AC 8717:3), and we can trust that He will continue to give us what we want. But what if things go wrong? What if tragedy should strike us? If we naïvely trust the Lord to protect us from worldly misfortune, who are we to blame if worldly misfortune arises? Many people blame the Lord. When they are confronted with hardship, or with tragedy, they are angry. They ask why the Lord let it happen to them, and they are angry with Him, because they had trusted Him to bring them worldly success and fortune and to protect them from worldly harm..

The Arcana talks about people who expect the Lord to bring them worldly fortune. Such people, it is said, "grieve if they do not obtain the objects of their desire, and feel anguish at the loss of them; and they have no consolation, because of the anger they feel against the Divine, which they reject together with everything of faith, . . ." (AC 8478:2). If our belief is that the Lord will give us what we want, then this belief and trust are shattered when we don't get what we want, or when we suffer in ways we think that we shouldn't suffer.

The truth is that to truly trust in the Lord is not to expect the Lord to give us what we want; to trust in Him is to be content with what He gives us. It is to have confidence that the Lord gives us what we need, even if it is not what we expect. It is, quite simply, to believe that the Lord knows best.

This takes humility. We often think that we know what we need. If only we had this or that. If only such and such a thing would happen, we would be happy. Yet so often our own opinions about what will bring us happiness are mistaken. They are delusions (cf. SD 2513). Often the very things people expect of the Lord would, in fact, be harmful to them, and so the Lord, in His wisdom, does not provide them.

Indeed, the Writings indicate that the very fact that someone is in good can make it harmful for him to be given what he wants, at least right away. We are taught that lest a basically good man become conceited with his own goodness, "those that are in faith rarely obtain the objects of their desire, while they desire them, but yet, if it be for their good, they obtain them afterwards, when not thinking of them" (SD 3538). Likewise, we are taught that it would often be harmful, for similar reasons, if the Lord withheld good men from worldly misfortunes (SD 4630m).

The Lord does not wish misfortune upon us. Neither is He the one who brings the misfortune. Misfortune doesn't come from the Lord -- it comes from hell. But the Lord will permit or allow misfortune to occur when He foresees that it may be beneficial, in some way, to our eternal happiness. He may foresee that, for particular people, their spirits will grow and develop in the midst of worldly adversity. Sometimes the Lord will see that certain people are needed, immediately, in the spiritual world to serve special uses there. And, for the Lord, our spiritual development and our eternal use and happiness are of far greater significance than any temporary worldly circumstance. Therefore, if we expect the Lord to bless us with worldly prosperity, or if we expect Him to exempt us from worldly misfortunes and tragedies, we may be sadly disappointed.

We can, though, most certainly trust in the Lord to bring us happiness. But we must remember that this happiness -- eternal happiness -- sometimes comes through ways we do not expect, sometimes by means of worldly suffering and worldly loss. And if, through worldly misfortune, people are discouraged from descending further into evil, or if they are strengthened in their desire for what is good, then, within these misfortunes there are hidden blessings from the Lord.

We need to trust the Lord in this. We must trust that whatever it is that the Lord gives us, and whatever it is that He allows us to undergo, He is leading us towards eternal happiness. He wants us to be happy forever and ever. And if we trust the Lord this way -- if we trust that He is leading us towards everlasting happiness in heaven, then we will be able to receive something of this happiness, something of the happiness of heaven, even whilst we still live in the world. Happiness from heaven will flow into our souls, and deep within our minds we will be aware of a sense of contentment, a sense of peace.

We all realize that worldly fortune is only a partial factor in a person's happiness. A rich man, for example, may be completely miserable, and a poor man may still find contentment in the few good things he has. The roots of happiness and unhappiness do not lie in external circumstances, but within the human heart. Happiness, real happiness, flows into the heart from the Lord. And it flows into the heart when a person is content with his lot and is trusting in the Lord. If he is content in the Lord, then no matter what his external situation is, no matter what happens to him, he will still have within himself something of happiness, something of peace.

Therefore, if we are to experience happiness in the present, we must trust that the Lord is leading us to happiness in the future. And to this must be added one very important point. If the Lord is indeed to lead us to future eternal happiness, we must believe that He is doing so.

When a person does not trust in the Lord, he prevents the Lord from leading him towards happiness. The person who distrusts the Lord is cursing himself. He is bringing misery upon himself. If he experiences worldly prosperity, he is not really happy. He always wants more, and he is always afraid of losing what he has. And if he experiences misfortune, he then blames the Lord, or blames the world around him, and he is filled with bitterness. The Lord tries to lead everybody towards happiness, but the person who does not trust in the Lord insists on leading himself, and he leads himself into evil, into unhappiness, into anxiety, into bitterness, into misery.

Trust in the Lord has the opposite effect. When we have faith in the Lord we then place ourselves in the stream of His providence. We allow Him to lead us in all things towards eternal happiness. We may not know how the Lord is leading us. We may not know the actual paths along which we will take us. But it does not matter. It is not our concern, for we have placed ourselves in the hands of the Lord Himself.

We have our responsibilities, our part to play. We must live each day to the best of our ability, and according to our best understanding of the Lord's Word. And to live each day properly we must, it is true, have the vision and the foresight to plan prudently for the future. The Lord does not expect us to ignore the future. He has given us the use of reason, and He expects us to use our heads in planning for our future worldly needs (AC 6934) and in guarding against worldly dangers. But what He does not expect us to do, indeed, what He expressly forbids us to do, is to worry needlessly about the future. We can do our best each day, and that is that. We cannot do more. Only the Lord knows the future, and this is good. If people knew where the Lord was leading them, if they knew the future, they would then not have the opportunity of placing themselves in His hands. They would not have the opportunity of placing their trust in Him alone (cf. SD 2271).

So it is that as we look ahead to the months and maybe years ahead, we should realize that the fact that we do not know for sure what is in store for us and for our nation is a blessing. It provides us with the wonderful opportunity of giving the Lord our trust, and of allowing Him to lead us forward into the future, and from there into all eternity. We can rest content and peaceful in the full knowledge that every instant He is guiding us, protecting us, and blessing us.

Remember this. Remember that the strategy behind terrorism is exactly what the name implies. It has as its purpose the spreading of a feeling of terror, terror that undermines people's trust and confidence, terror that can as it were break the soul of a people. The American people has so far shown that their soul is strong and healthy and unbowed. And the fact that so many people are turning to God shows that their spirits are strong. In the New Church we have so many clear teachings about the power and protection of the Lord. Remember these teachings at this time. Share them with your friends. Allow these teachings to strengthen us and strengthen others. If people trust, really trust, in the Divine Protection, then terrorism cannot win. May the Lord watch over each and over one of us.

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me; . . ."

"Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever."

Amen.

Lessons: Ps. 23; Matt. 6:25-34; AC 8478:3-4