One step at a time
Why God doesn't want you to know too much about the future.
Do you ever wish God would show you what your life was going to look like in the future?
Perhaps you've wondered what job you might do, where you will live or who you will marry?
They're all big questions. But will we find the answers in the Bible?
Let's have a look at Psalm 119. Containing 176 verses, Psalm 119 is the longest single chapter in the Bible. The author of Psalm 119 is unknown, but most scholars agree that it was written either by David, Ezra or Daniel. Each of these proposed authors suffered serious difficulties in their lives, and you can see their struggles throughout the Psalm.
But this Psalm contains a very famous verse, which you may have heard before. Psalm 119:105: "Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path".
Ahhh..! You might be thinking, there it is! God promises to show me the path of my life! Well, kind of...
Recently, I heard a talk which explained this verse in a bit more detail. You see, thousands of years ago there was no super-powered ultra-bright torches. There were oil-burning lamps, most of them quite small. Now imagine walking through a cave or a dark forest with one of these little lights. What would the lamp do? Not a lot.
The lamp wouldn't show you the whole cave. It wouldn't show you the whole forest. But it would show you where to safely place your feet for each step.
The same is true of God's Word.
You and I sometimes feel like we're being kept in the dark on the plan for our lives. We want to see the whole thing lit up in bright lights. But God says to us, "trust me for the big picture. And use my word to guide your steps as you go along."
Do you see how this makes a big difference about how we think about the future? The Bible is not a crystal ball. You can't look into it and see exactly how your life is going to turn out.
Why has God organised it this way? Our desire to know the future is all about trying to control our own lives. By only showing us a little bit at a time, we learn to trust Him and not ourselves.
God's Word is a lamp. Let it guide your steps as you walk towards the future He has prepared for you.
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