Learning to Trust God with Tomorrow.

What happens when biblical teaching moves beyond the classroom and begins to reshape the way we work, give, save, and face uncertainty?

Ochwo John Isaac, a young lawyer, shares how studying The Rich Fool during a Faith & Work study with the Gulu cohort challenged his understanding of work, stewardship, and security, and taught him to trust the Giver more than the gift.

Trusting the Giver, Not the Gift

Ochwo Isaac

I entered professional work before I had even graduated from law school. It was an exciting opportunity, but it also came with a great deal of uncertainty. My contracts were short-term, while the decisions I had to make as a young adult were anything but short-term. I had to think about my expenditures, giving, saving, budgeting, and the many other responsibilities that come with becoming independent. Yet, behind almost every decision was the same question: What if this opportunity does not last? “If I commit myself to giving, will I have enough to take care of myself tomorrow?”

Those questions were not necessarily unreasonable. But over time, they began to shape the way I handled my resources. I became increasingly cautious, even with myself. Without realizing it, I was beginning to trust more in the security my work offered than in the God who had given me the work in the first place. I was trusting the gift rather than the Giver.

Learning from the Rich Fool

This was a struggle I carried for some time until I was confronted, rather painfully, by the story of the rich fool in Luke 12. During a study with the Gulu cohort of Faith and Work, I encountered the story in a way that forced me to examine my own heart. The rich fool had accumulated enough to feel secure about tomorrow. His confidence was in what he had stored up, and his plans were built around the assumption that his possessions could guarantee his future. I realized that, in my own way, I was doing something similar, only that my circumstances were different (I had nothing), but the underlying question was the same: Where was my confidence?

Was it in the contract? Was it in the income? Was it in the possibility that my work would continue? Or was it in God? That realization did not immediately remove my fears, but it began to change the way I responded to them.

One Bold Move at a Time

I began learning to surrender my work to the Lord, starting with small things like budgeting more intentionally, taking opportunities to give, even when I could not see clearly how everything would work out. I began making decisions not simply on the basis of what my circumstances seemed to permit, but on the basis of what I believed God was teaching me about trust and stewardship.

Did I stop worrying? No. I still wondered about tomorrow, still had moments when uncertainty felt very real, but worry gradually stopped having the final say. I was learning that faith is not the absence of questions. Sometimes faith is choosing to move forward even when you do not have all the answers. My comfort was “The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.” If everything belongs to Him, then perhaps I could stop living as though everything depended on me.

The Dilemma of Diligence

My employment did not come with the kind of certainty that would make anyone completely comfortable. The short-term nature of my contracts meant that job security was always somewhere in the back of my mind. I remember a friend, knowing something about my situation, giving me advice that seemed logical at the time: “If you do less, there will always be more work to do, and you will still be needed. If you get things done, they will eventually be done with you.” Now that made sense from a self-preserving perspective. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it was not the kind of worker I am, let alone the one I wanted to become.

If I was a steward, then my responsibility was not to deliberately underperform so that I could protect my position. My responsibility was to do the work faithfully. I had to ask myself: If the Lord is my ultimate Master, what kind of work would I offer Him? The answer was simple. I wanted to work diligently, not because I was guaranteed another contract or an extension, but because I wanted my work to be pleasing to God. I wanted to work as though my ultimate assessment would come from Him. So, I made another bold decision to do my work faithfully and leave the outcome to God.

When My Fear Seemed to Become Reality

Around the same period, our company went through a major restructuring. A number of employees were laid off. Suddenly, the fear I had been carrying no longer felt hypothetical. It felt close. It felt real like my own turn could be just around the corner. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t scared. But each day, I continued to report to work with one prayer; “If this is my last day, may the Lord and may my boss find me a faithful servant.”

That prayer changed something in me. I could not control whether my contract would be renewed. I could not control whether the company would retain me. I could not control what tomorrow would bring. But I could control whether I was faithful today. And perhaps that is where stewardship begins not with knowing what tomorrow holds, but with faithfully handling what God has placed in our hands today.

Freedom from the Fear of Tomorrow

Today, I can say that I am still learning. I still have moments when I worry. I still think about the future. I still ask questions about work, finances and what tomorrow might look like. But worry no longer gets to define me. I have found a measure of freedom in learning to trust God. I am free to give, budget, spend responsibly, save and work diligently. Above all, freedom to make decisions without allowing fear to become the loudest advisor.

“My chains are gone I’ve been set free” not because I suddenly have complete certainty about tomorrow, but because I have learned that tomorrow was never mine to control in the first place. I am learning to trust the Giver more than I trust the gift. The job, income, opportunity and ability to work are a gift. And while I am grateful for every one of these things, none of them can carry the weight of my ultimate security because that belongs to God.

So, do I still struggle? Yes. Does it weigh me down? Not like it used to. Because I am learning that my responsibility is faithfulness and the outcome belongs to God. And that has become one of the most liberating lessons of my young professional life.

Praise be to His name.

A Word from UCC

Isaac’s testimony reminds us that biblical financial discipleship is not ultimately about learning how to manage money. It is about learning to trust God. At University Community Church, we believe the gospel must shape not only what we believe on Sunday, but also how we work, give, save, spend, and face the uncertainties of everyday life.

This testimony emerged from a Faith & Work study in Gulu, where participants engaged with Luke 12 and the themes explored in Jimmy Okello’s book, The Rich Fool: Becoming Rich Toward God in a World of Fools.

Isaac’s story is a reminder that the question of stewardship is ultimately a question of trust: Will we trust the gifts God provides, or will we trust the God who provides them?