Wait, while working
To live with vision is to see beyond the limitations of the present. A man who has no sight of tomorrow is easily swallowed by the narrowness of today. Yet, a man who only dreams of tomorrow without grounding himself in the weight of today builds castles in the air that vanish with the wind. Scripture reminds us, “Where there is no vision, the people perish” (Proverbs 29:18). But it also says, “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11). There is vision for tomorrow, and there is bread for today. One does not cancel out the other; both must be held in a delicate balance.
Living with the broad view allows one to endure the straitness of the now. It stretches the heart beyond the discomfort of the moment, reminding it that these light afflictions are but for a moment, working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory (2 Corinthians 4:17). Yet, living fully in the now is what gives strength to the vision. For today is not a wasted filler; it is the smallest indivisible part that makes up the whole. Every vision is built from a thousand todays, faithfully lived, consistently endured.
The prophet Habakkuk speaks with a voice that still whispers to us: “The vision is for an appointed time… though it tarry, wait for it, for it will surely come and will not delay” (Habakkuk 2:3). The vision of tomorrow has its date in God’s calendar. It will not arrive because you are restless; it will arrive because He is faithful. Yet the same God who sets tomorrow’s timing calls you to stand ready in today. He calls you to wait, to watch, and take the stance of Habakkuk; standing upon your watch. “I will stand upon my watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what He will say unto me” (Habakkuk 2:1).
The question then arises: how should a man walk in this world where every day demands urgency, but eternity demands patience? Should he run ahead into tomorrow, or settle into the quiet rhythms of today? The answer is not in choosing one and discarding the other, but in living with balance: to know the broad view, but to deliberately walk in the now, in alignment and hope towards the whole. To be rooted in today, yet stretched towards tomorrow.
But here is a warning. The vision for tomorrow can help you stay the course today, yet if you live every moment in today chasing after tomorrow, you may never truly live at all. Tomorrow was never meant to be chased; it was meant to be prepared for. Every faithful act of obedience today is a brick laid on the road that leads to tomorrow. It is the farmer who sows, waters, and tends the soil today who has the right to expect a harvest tomorrow (Galatians 6:9).
The danger of chasing tomorrow is that it blinds the eyes to the becoming of today. A man can spend his whole life staring so hard at the horizon that he forgets to take the step in front of him. Yet without steps, even the brightest vision remains unreachable. Tomorrow is not given in one sweep, it comes as a garmen woven with the thread of days, and days, and days.
Perhaps this is why the Lord tells us, “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself, sufficient for the day is its own troble” (Matthew 6:34). It is not a dismissal of vision, but an invitation into trust and obedience. For to live rightly is not to idolize tomorrow, nor despise today, but to weave both into one vision; keeping you steady with today shaping you ready.
So, for me, I choose to live in the tension. Today as seed, tomorrow as harvest. Today as faith, tomorrow as sight. Today as obedience, tomorrow as reward. This posture has built in me the capacity to endure uncertainty, has silenced the urge to complain or murmur, and has equipped me with answers when anxiety comes knocking. And as I stand in the middle of both seasons- waiting, yet still working, I cannot help but wonder:
What if the fulfilment of tomorrow’s vision is already hidden in the faithfulness of today?
