What does the future hold for me?

At one point in my life I developed a tendency to catastrophise – especially about health issues. If I experienced the slightest pain or symptom I would assume the worst. I was really helped by someone who pointed this out to me and said that to catastrophise means to ‘overestimate the danger and underestimate your ability to cope’.

Catastrophising leads to fear and is the opposite of faith. Fear tells you that you will not be able to cope. Faith tells you that your Father in heaven knows when you will need strength to cope and he will supply all you need just in time. God will arm you with the strength that you need for whatever lies ahead.

God had given David victory over all his enemies. As David looks back at these battles he says, ‘You armed me with strength for the battle’ (v.39). These were not the last enemies that David would have to fight. Plenty of battles lay ahead.

1. What you don’t know

Like David, what you don’t know is which battles lie ahead. However, for most of us, it would probably be very unhelpful to know exactly what the battles will be.

2. What you do know

As the saying goes, ‘We don’t know what the future holds, but we know who holds the future.’ What David knew was that since God had ‘armed [him] with strength’ (v.39) in the past, he would do so in the future. You can know that God will supply you with the strength you need when you need it.

32 “Now learn this lesson from the fig tree: As soon as its twigs get tender and its leaves come out, you know that summer is near. 33 Even so, when you see all these things, you know that it is near, right at the door. 34 Truly I tell you, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened. 35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.

The Day and Hour Unknown

36 “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.

42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ 49 and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 50 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

The Parable of the Ten Virgins

25 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.

6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’

7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’

9 “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’

10 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.

11 “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’

12 “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’

13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

The Lord Speaks

38 Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:

2 “Who is this that obscures my plans
   with words without knowledge?
3 Brace yourself like a man;
   I will question you,
   and you shall answer me.

4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
   Tell me, if you understand.
5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know!
   Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6 On what were its footings set,
   or who laid its cornerstone —
7 while the morning stars sang together
   and all the angels shouted for joy?

8 “Who shut up the sea behind doors
   when it burst forth from the womb,
9 when I made the clouds its garment
   and wrapped it in thick darkness,
10 when I fixed limits for it
   and set its doors and bars in place,
11 when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther;
   here is where your proud waves halt’?

12 “Have you ever given orders to the morning,
   or shown the dawn its place,
13 that it might take the earth by the edges
   and shake the wicked out of it?
14 The earth takes shape like clay under a seal;
   its features stand out like those of a garment.
15 The wicked are denied their light,
   and their upraised arm is broken.

16 “Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea
   or walked in the recesses of the deep?
17 Have the gates of death been shown to you?
   Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?
18 Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth?
   Tell me, if you know all this.

19 “What is the way to the abode of light?
   And where does darkness reside?
20 Can you take them to their places?
   Do you know the paths to their dwellings?
21 Surely you know, for you were already born!
   You have lived so many years!

22 “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow
   or seen the storehouses of the hail,
23 which I reserve for times of trouble,
   for days of war and battle?
24 What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed,
   or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?
25 Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain,
   and a path for the thunderstorm,
26 to water a land where no one lives,
   an uninhabited desert,
27 to satisfy a desolate wasteland
   and make it sprout with grass?
28 Does the rain have a father?
   Who fathers the drops of dew?
29 From whose womb comes the ice?
   Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens
30 when the waters become hard as stone,
   when the surface of the deep is frozen?

31 “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades?
   Can you loosen Orion’s belt?
32 Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons
   or lead out the Bear with its cubs?
33 Do you know the laws of the heavens?
   Can you set up God’s dominion over the earth?

34 “Can you raise your voice to the clouds
   and cover yourself with a flood of water?
35 Do you send the lightning bolts on their way?
   Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
36 Who gives the ibis wisdom
   or gives the rooster understanding?
37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?
   Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens
38 when the dust becomes hard
   and the clods of earth stick together?

39 “Do you hunt the prey for the lioness
   and satisfy the hunger of the lions
40 when they crouch in their dens
   or lie in wait in a thicket?
41 Who provides food for the raven
   when its young cry out to God
   and wander about for lack of food?

39 “Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?
   Do you watch when the doe bears her fawn?
2 Do you count the months till they bear?
   Do you know the time they give birth?
3 They crouch down and bring forth their young;
   their labour pains are ended.
4 Their young thrive and grow strong in the wilds;
   they leave and do not return.

5 “Who let the wild donkey go free?
   Who untied its ropes?
6 I gave it the wasteland as its home,
   the salt flats as its habitat.
7 It laughs at the commotion in the town;
   it does not hear a driver’s shout.
8 It ranges the hills for its pasture
   and searches for any green thing.

9 “Will the wild ox consent to serve you?
   Will it stay by your manger at night?
10 Can you hold it to the furrow with a harness?
   Will it till the valleys behind you?
11 Will you rely on it for its great strength?
   Will you leave your heavy work to it?
12 Can you trust it to haul in your grain
   and bring it to your threshing floor?

13 “The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully,
   though they cannot compare
   with the wings and feathers of the stork.
14 She lays her eggs on the ground
   and lets them warm in the sand,
15 unmindful that a foot may crush them,
   that some wild animal may trample them.
16 She treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers;
   she cares not that her labour was in vain,
17 for God did not endow her with wisdom
   or give her a share of good sense.
18 Yet when she spreads her feathers to run,
   she laughs at horse and rider.

19 “Do you give the horse its strength
   or clothe its neck with a flowing mane?
20 Do you make it leap like a locust,
   striking terror with its proud snorting?
21 It paws fiercely, rejoicing in its strength,
   and charges into the fray.
22 It laughs at fear, afraid of nothing;
   it does not shy away from the sword.
23 The quiver rattles against its side,
   along with the flashing spear and lance.
24 In frenzied excitement it eats up the ground;
   it cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds.
25 At the blast of the trumpet it snorts, ‘Aha!’
   It catches the scent of battle from afar,
   the shout of commanders and the battle cry.

26 “Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom
   and spread its wings toward the south?
27 Does the eagle soar at your command
   and build its nest on high?
28 It dwells on a cliff and stays there at night;
   a rocky crag is its stronghold.
29 From there it looks for food;
   its eyes detect it from afar.
30 Its young ones feast on blood,
   and where the slain are, there it is.”

40 The Lord said to Job:

2 “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him?
   Let him who accuses God answer him!”