The Hidden Future
Joe R Barnett
4/8/98
The Hidden Future
I am going ...not knowing what shall befall me ...
Acts 20.22
I believe in goal-setting...in knowing where we’re going...and planning, as best we can, the steps it will take to get there. But I’m glad we don’t know in advance all the things which will happen enroute.
Think of where you have been. If you had known all the roadblocks, struggles and pains which have accompanied the journey, you likely would never have started. Thankfully, you were venturing into the unknown.
Less than a year ago I had a pleasant visit with some friends of years past. They had a glow about them as they spoke of the achievements of their son. They were justifiably proud. Six months later that fine boy lost his life in an electrical storm.
If those parents had known in advance that they were to lose that splendid son it would have cast a gloom over all their days. Their happiness would have been shattered. They couldn’t even have enjoyed their time with him because of the dread of their approaching loss.
We want to know the future. We make careful analyses and detailed plans. Yet, God is good to shield us from the future. Otherwise, we would be paralyzed with dread. God gives us life a bite at a time. How wise and loving of Him.
He leadeth me: O blessed thought!
O words with heav’nly comfort fraught!
Whate’er I do, where ‘er I be,
Still ‘tis God’s hand that leadeth me.
Do not be anxious about tomorrow, Jesus said.
Let the day’s own trouble be sufficient for the day. Matthew 6.34. Don’t borrow trouble from the future. Enjoy today.
—Joe R. Barnett
Lubbock, TX
