What about tomorrow?

The nature of fundraising is that you rely day by day, month by month and year by year on the generosity of others as they are prompted by the grace of God.

That's a scary place to be.

In fact, as I write this blog entry, I'm keenly aware of how quickly and drastically my life would change if my support team stopped giving tomorrow. I sense how little control I have over the situation. I feel small, powerless and vulnerable.

Frankly, I don't like it one bit.

Everything in me wants to find something more "solid" to rely on. My heart cries out to just get a normal job like a normal person. "Then," my heart tells me, "you won't have to worry about tomorrow."

And that's the key question, isn't it? What about tomorrow? Will God be faithful tomorrow? Will I have what I need tomorrow?

Thankfully, a freshly-emancipated Israel had to consider the same questions:

And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat. This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an omer, according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.’” And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less. But when they measured it with an omer, whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.” But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it bred worms and stank. (Exodus 16:14-20 ESV, emphasis mine)

Your Bible probably has a little footnote next to the phrase "What is it?" that says something about the word "manna" deriving from it. This manna is quite amazing stuff. Every day God would provide it for His people to eat as they wandered in the wilderness. And every day there would be just enough, no matter how much they actually gathered.  There was never too much nor too little. If they tried to save any until the next morning, it became useless.

There's a very important lesson to be learned here for fundraisers who, like me, worry about tomorrow. It's simply this: God gives grace for today.

I will not have too much grace today or too little grace today. I can't collect extra grace today and store it up for tomorrow. I can expect that God will give me new grace tomorrow, but not until tomorrow is today. Because of Jesus's death and resurrection, Christian fundraisers can rest confidently on those truths.

So when we find ourselves searching for something "solid", what we really need is to better understand the completed work of Christ on the cross. There is absolutely nothing more solid than that.

The truth is that our hearts aren't actually crying out for a "normal job". They're crying out for a Savior. They're crying out for the true Bread from heaven. They're crying out for Jesus.

Just as they were always meant to do.