Sufficient unto the Day is the Evil Thereof

As part of the Sermon on the Mount, the Savior taught this, “Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” (Matt. 6:34).  I’ve been trying to understand what He really meant by that last phrase; what does it mean that “sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof?”  One of the best explanations of this verse that I found comes from George Q. Cannon, who said, “God is teaching us many lessons. He is teaching us to put our trust in him. He is teaching us that ‘Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof.’  Why should we borrow trouble for tomorrow, as long as we enjoy today, as long as we have peace today, so long as we have the presence of the Holy Ghost today, let the morrow take thought for the things of itself.  Let us enjoy this day in peace. Let us lay down this night in peace, putting our trust in God for the morrow. If we thus live day by day—for it is written that the just shall live by faith” (JD 23:271, see here). 

In other words, this verse is really about faith; God wants us to focus mainly on the things of today and not get caught up in worrying unnecessarily about future troubles.  It is easy to get caught up in the what ifs of tomorrow and spend time and energy agonizing over the challenges that may await us.  President Harold B. Lee said it this way as he quoted Matt. 6:34, “Don't try to live too many days ahead. Seek for strength to attend to the problems of today….   Do all that you can do and leave the rest to God, the Father of us all” (GC Oct 1970, see here).

                On the other hand, though, we know we have to plan for the future and are even counseled to do so.  For example, the Savior said on another occasion, “For which of you, intending to build a tower, sitteth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he have sufficient to finish it” (Luke 14:28).  We have to plan and prepare for the future or else we may start something that we cannot finish.  In Proverbs we read, “Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house” (Proverbs 24:27).  In other words, we have to prepare and make a plan before we can build a house.  In the Parable of the Ten Virgins, the foolish virgins were condemned because they “took no oil with them” and hadn’t planned and prepared well enough for the coming of the Bridegroom (Matt. 25:3).  In a similar theme several scriptures speak of the Lord’s coming as a “thief in the night,” and those who are not watching and ready will be “overtaken” (D&C 106:4).  The Lord said it this way in His introduction to the Doctrine and Covenants: “Prepare ye, prepare ye for that which is to come, for the Lord is nigh” (D&C 1:12).  In His appendix to the Doctrine and Covenants the Lord repeated the same idea: “Wherefore, prepare ye, prepare ye, O my people; sanctify yourselves; gather ye together, O ye people of my church, upon the land of Zion” (D&C 133:4).

                So if we must prepare and be ready for the future, how do we live in such a way that we take “no thought for tomorrow” as the Sermon on the Mount tells us?  Perhaps the key that connects the two imperatives is this well-known counsel: “If ye are prepared ye shall not fear” (D&C 38:30).  We must “prepare every needful thing” for the future, but we don’t need to worry and fear concerning what lies ahead if we live righteously today (D&C 109:8).  There are enough problems and evil today to face up to and overcome; we don’t need to be additionally burdened by fearing the great challenges that may await us.  We prepare and plan as best we can, but we put most of our attention on living today with faith.  President Monson said it this way: “Prepare for the future….  Live in the present.  Sometimes we let our thoughts of tomorrow take up too much of today….   There is no tomorrow to remember if we don’t do something today, and to live most fully today, we must do that which is of greatest importance” (GC April 2003, see here).