I know who holds tomorrow

I sent this to some cousins on Facebook last week:



It was one of those cases where I preached the message I myself needed to hear. As Jane Austen put it, in Persuasion, "When the evening was over, Anne could not but be amused at the idea of her coming to Lyme to preach patience and resignation to a young man whom she had never seen before; nor could she help fearing, on more serious reflection, that, like many other great moralists and preachers, she had been eloquent on a point in which her own conduct would ill bear examination."

Whenever I was able to drive in to work, I sang the first verse and chorus:

Verse 1
I don't know about tomorrow,
I just live from day to day.
I don't borrow from its sunshine,
For its skies may turn to gray.
I don't worry o'er the future,
For I know what Jesus said,
And today I'll walk beside him,
For he knows what is ahead.

Chorus:
Many things about tomorrow,
I don't seem to understand;
But I know who holds tomorrow,
And I know who holds my hand.

But I would be obliged to admit to myself that I was trying to borrow from tomorrow's sunshine and I did worry o'er the future.

Today as I was driving in to work, I sang it again, and this time it came true. There is one particular thing I'm hoping for that has caused me this worry o'er the future, but God blessed me with the realization that if I don't get what I hoped, there are still other paths I can take. I made Plan B, Plan C, and Plan D, and then I was able to lay Plan A before God's throne and leave it there. I worked all day without thinking much about it, and even now I still don't know the outcome. But I am at peace.

Verse 2
Every step is getting brighter,
As the golden stairs I climb;
Every burden's getting lighter;
Every cloud is silver-lined.
There the sun is always shining,
There no tear will dim the eye,
At the ending of the rainbow,
Where the mountains touch the sky.

Chorus:
Many things about tomorrow,
I don't seem to understand;
But I know who holds tomorrow,
And I know who holds my hand.

Verse 3
I don't know about tomorrow,
It may bring me poverty;
But the one who feeds the sparrow,
Is the one who stands by me.
And the path that be my portion,
May be through the flame or flood,
But his presence goes before me,
And I'm covered with his blood.

Chorus:
Many things about tomorrow,
I don't seem to understand;
But I know who holds tomorrow,
And I know who holds my hand.

"I Know Who Holds Tomorrow," 1950
Lyrics and Composer: Ira Forest Stanphill (1914-1993)

As much as I've searched on the internet, I have not found a video or recording of all three verses. People seem to sing verse 1 and then either verse 2 or verse 3. I like them all. The language in verse 2 is perhaps a bit florid. "At the ending of the rainbow" sounds more Land of Oz than Kingdom of God, but I like it anyway. What is the dream of Oz but a longing for the Kingdom of God?

Learn the tune and then sing all three verses, and God bless us every one.