What is My Future?

Mark Dunagan
08/26/12 - Sunday Evening

What is My Future?

“Isn’t it interesting that we are never told in Scripture to ask God to reveal the future or to show us His plans for our lives?  But we are told in no uncertain terms to call out for insight and to cry loud for understanding” (Just Do Something, Kevin DeYoung p. 90).

Certain Things about the Future

There are a number of areas that God does give us a clear look into the future:

• The eternal future of the righteous and the wicked: Romans 2:6-10
• The horrors of hell: Mark 9:43
• The wonders of heaven: Revelation 21:4
• That we will reap as we have sown: Galatians 6:7-8
• That God will not change His mind concerning right and wrong: Hebrews 13:4
• That we will be judged as individuals based on what we actually did: 2 Corinthians 5:10
• That the wicked who prosper will not continue to prosper: Psalm 73:17
• That things cannot make us happy: Ecclesiastes 2:11
• That evil companions will corrupt us: 1 Corinthians 15:33

The World is Obsessed with Knowing the Future

This is seen in the popularly of horoscopes, witchcraft, tarot cards, psychics and other practices that are condemned in the Bible under the general category of divination.  Yet what I have observed is that so many people in the world want to know their future for the wrong reasons, and it is often that they want an easy path to love and money, or a secret inside track that avoids the path of working hard, saving and being the right person.

God Could Have Revealed the Future

The Bible is clear that God certainly has the ability to know the future and could have easily communicated our specific futures to us.  “I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me; Declaring the end the from the beginning and from ancient times things which have not been done” (Isaiah 46:9-10).  So why does God not reveal to us what is going to specifically happen in our lives?  Well, think about it:

• We are not the focus or center of this universe.  What truly matters is God fulfilling His purpose (Isaiah 46:10).
• Knowing in advance everything that is going to happen in one's life would be overwhelming!  It would be hard to be cheerful if you knew in advance all the hardships and challenges you would face.
• People would try to “work the system”.  If one knew one would die on a specific date, then one might plan to sin right up until that point.
• People would opt out and never develop and grow spiritually.   That is, if I knew that parenting would be challenging, then I might never have children.  If I knew that doing the right thing would cost me this and that—I might just avoid doing it.
• What is important is not knowing the future, but rather trusting in God and making the daily decision to live for Him (Deuteronomy 8:2-3).

What is Not the Path to Wisdom

Over the years people have tended to follow the same worn out paths that lead to nowhere.  This is true when it comes to trying to find happiness in material things (Ecclesiastes 2:1—11), or the temptations that the world offers (1 John 2:15-17). 

Open Doors

The Bible does speak of “open doors” (Revelation 3:8).  The right way to use such a concept is to remember that an open door is an opportunity to do something that we already know (from Scripture) is something that we should be doing.  But remember:

An “open door” really has nothing to do with how easy or hard something is.  So do not assume that the “path of least resistance” is the path God wants you to take, for God’s will is our sanctification (1 Thess. 4:3) and that always takes effort. Mere convenience has never indicated God's direction.  When Jonah ran from God, there was a very convenient option of heading in the opposite direction.  Yet the available ship doing to Tarshish was certainly not an open door from the Lord. Remember, the devil provides many “easy outs”.

“Christians are sometimes guilty of using the absence of an open door as an excuse for laziness:  ‘I put my resume on Monster.com last week and no one has contracted me.  The Lord just isn’t opening any doors’.  Perhaps, but maybe you should make some phone calls, knock on some doors, and visit every potential employer in town” (Just Do Something pp. 77-78).

Putting Out a Fleece

I find it interesting that what Gideon did in Judges chapter 6, in a book that God already said that it was a time period when “every man did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:21), that so many people think is a good idea.  Allow me to comment:

1. An actual angel shows up and appears to Gideon (6:12).
2. God directly communicated to him (6:14).
3. Yet he balks (6:15).
4. He then asks for a sign that God is actually speaking to him (6:17)!
5. God gives him a sign, a sacrifice is instantly consumed (6:21).
6. Later in chapter, Gideon asks for another sign (6:36).  Note that this is Gideon’s idea, not God’s.
7. So Gideon puts out a fleece on the ground and states that if the fleece is wet, but the ground underneath is dry, then he says he will know that God will be with him.  (Although he should already know that God will be with him, for God has said as much (6:16).
8. Then Gideon rethought his plan, and wanted opposite results (6:39-40).

The whole problem with the “putting out the fleece” concept is that it forgets that God did not come up with the idea and that the idea was rooted in a lack of trust in what God had already said.  This is not something that Gideon did because he was trying to find out God’s will—God had already made His will perfectly known.  It likewise backfired on Gideon, for now he needed yet another sign to confirm the previous sign.  In addition, no one can truly follow this example.  When people talk about putting out a fleece, they are obviously not literally “putting out a fleece” rather they propose something such as, “God, if You want me to go out on this date, then make my professors cancel all their assignments for the weekend.  If You don’t do that, I’ll just tell Josh that it wasn’t the Lord’s will that we go out” (Just Do Something p. 80).  I find, by the same token, such an approach to decision making tends to foster impatience and quick decisions, such as, “I will put my house on the market and if it doesn’t sell in three months, then God is telling me not to move”.

The Danger of Random Passages

Other people just pick up the Bible and think that God is going to guide them to a passage that gives them the clue concerning some question about their future.  By contrast, the Bible tells us to be a good student (2 Timothy 2:15) and handle Scripture correctly.  One writer observed, “The Word of God is not to be used as a lottery; nor is it designed to instruct us by shreds and scraps” (Just Do Something p. 84).

Hunches are dangerous: Proverbs 3:4-6; 16:25; 28:26. Instead Seek The Real Path of Wisdom:

1. Study, trust, and accurately use Scripture: 2 Timothy 3:14-15
2. Listen to Scripture and not to your feelings or hunches.
3. Disregard people who are trying to tickle your ears, or encourage you to opt for the easy and quick out.
4. Pray to God for the right motivation and cleanse your heart from unworthy and selfish motives.
5. Seek out good advice, cry out for wisdom, accept correction from God and His people: Proverbs 2:2-3; 9:7-9; 12:15; 15:22; 19:20
6. Listen to godly parents: Proverbs 2:1

Mark Dunagan | mdunagan@frontier.com
Beaverton Church of Christ | 503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net