Future – nawinter.com

Anticipated Future

Like many people, I have a penchant for planning. I work hard to consider what needs to be done, who I need to catch up with, and allocate the time needed to do those things. If I had to choose between a spur-of-the-moment activity, and a planned event, I would most likely choose the latter. Spontaneity and I are on friendly terms, but we are not close. I would much rather have an appointment on my calendar than try to “squeeze something in.”

While there are many benefits to this proclivity, one of the downsides is that I tend to think that if I work hard enough, I will be able to plan for everything. The foolishness of this, however, is obvious as soon as the sentence is stated. As you and I both know, you can’t plan for everything. Life is full of surprises – some of them good and some of them not. Regardless of what category they fall into, we have all experienced some things that simply could not have been anticipated. At least not by us.

There is Someone, however, who does know what will happen in our lives. Our great God and King is not caught off guard by what crosses our path. While we may not be able to predict what will happen next, He is well aware of it. And just like He is knows what will come, He knows what we will need in order to glorify Him through it. If we don’t have it now, He will provide it. Or He may choose to change the circumstance so that what we currently have can be used to put His majesty on display. Either way, He does not let us encounter the future without a plan and provision for using it for His glory. We may not know what we need for our unknown future, but He does, and He can prepare us for what we will encounter next.

Worrying about the future, then, is senseless, not only because as Scripture tells us, our worry doesn’t produce any fruitful results (Mt. 6:27), but because worry presumes that our confidence is in what we can do, and not in what God is doing for us. Instead of trying to scheme on how we might conquer what we think may happen, we would be better served by trusting in the God Who knows what will occur. Our future may be unanticipated by us, but He has already planned and prepared for it.

The Pride of Fear

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I heard once that the fear of falling was the only “natural” fear that babies have. All other fears are either taught or learned. I don’t know if this is true, or even how researchers could confirm that, but it seems to make sense. Without it, there would be no inclination that kept children from face-planting on a regular basis (except perhaps the pain that they felt when they did so.) The idea that God in His loving wisdom instilled an aversion to this dangerous habit is in keeping with what we know about God and His care for His children.

Not all fears have the positive benefit that this fear of falling does. In fact, most don’t. Instead our fears are generally rooted in the profound awareness that we are unable to control our environment. Children fear being made fun of because they won’t know how to make it stop and return to social grace. Adults fear the future because what happens in it is outside of their control. These types of fears are to our detriment, not benefit. Instead of preventing us from harm, that are instead likely to prevent us from living the life that God desires for His children – a life of obedience and trust that is dependent on Him.

As the preceding paragraph illustrates, but as we seldom consider, the root of these fears is our own pride. In Isaiah this point is made abundantly clear when God says to His people:

“I, I am he who comforts you;

who are you that you are afraid of man who dies,

of the son of man who is made like grass,” (Is. 51:12)

In other words, if we rightly considered who God is, the absurdity of our fear would be readily apparent. It is because we have taken our eyes off of Him and instead focused them on ourselves that we fear what other people can do to us. Our perspective should be one in constant awe and wonder at what the God of the Universe can do. The fact that He has condescended to comfort us and give us rest should quench any of our earthly fears. When it does not, when fear of man abounds even as we know the greatness of our God and King, it is not because He is insufficient to meet them. It is because we have taken on the task of dealing with the uncertainty and trials of life ourselves, instead of looking to Him.

It can be disconcerting to think of our fear in this way as we convince ourselves that we need to worry and fret over certain things, much like a baby should fear falling over. However, Scripture makes it clear that this type of inward concern with ourselves never produced any godly benefit (See Lk. 12:25, Mt. 6:25-34). Instead, our eyes should remain focused on the One who gave us this life, and Who in His infinite wisdom can take it away. If He has the beginning and the end under His sovereign control, we should certainly be able to trust Him with the in-between, and to look to Him, instead of ourselves, when the temptation to fear our circumstances appears.

Tag: Future

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