Why doesn’t God reveal more of the future to his followers?
Isaiah 14:24The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has sworn this oath: “It will all happen as I have planned. It will be as I have decided.”
Isaiah 46:9-10“Remember the things I have done in the past. For I alone am God! I am God, and there is none like me. Only I can tell you the future before it even happens. Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish.”
1 Corinthians 2:9-10That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.” But it was to us that God revealed these things by his Spirit. For his Spirit searches out everything and shows us God’s deep secrets.
God reveals enough to give us hope. We know our eternal hope is real and how to get there, and we know that our eternal future will be more wonderful than we can imagine. Perhaps knowing more than that would be beyond our finite understanding.
Genesis 12:1-4The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your native country, your relatives, and your father’s family, and go to the land that I will show you. I will make you into a great nation. I will bless you and make you famous, and you will be a blessing to others. I will bless those who bless you and curse those who treat you with contempt. All the families on earth will be blessed through you.” So Abram departed as the Lord had instructed, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he left Haran.
Exodus 3:18-22“The elders of Israel will accept your message. Then you and the elders must go to the king of Egypt and tell him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. So please let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord, our God.’ But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand forces him. So I will raise my hand and strike the Egyptians, performing all kinds of miracles among them. Then at last he will let you go. And I will cause the Egyptians to look favorably on you. They will give you gifts when you go so you will not leave empty-handed. Every Israelite woman will ask for articles of silver and gold and fine clothing from her Egyptian neighbors and from the foreign women in their houses. You will dress your sons and daughters with these, stripping the Egyptians of their wealth.”
Deuteronomy 29:29“The Lord our God has secrets known to no one. We are not accountable for them, but we and our children are accountable forever for all that he has revealed to us, so that we may obey all the terms of these instructions.”
John 21:22Jesus replied, “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to you? As for you, follow me.”
God reveals enough to encourage us to obey. To achieve God’s future rewards requires present trust and obedience.
Psalm 31:15My future is in your hands. Rescue me from those who hunt me down relentlessly.
Psalm 32:8The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.”
Proverbs 20:24The Lord directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way?
James 4:10Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.
James 4:13-16Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.” Otherwise you are boasting about your own pretentious plans, and all such boasting is evil.
God reveals enough to increase our dependence on him. When we know that he knows the future, and he wants us to be part of that future, we must rely on him to lead us there. That is the essence of what it means to live by faith. Faith is trusting him for our future, not trying to create it all by ourselves.
Ecclesiastes 3:11Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end.
Hebrews 11:20-22It was by faith that Isaac promised blessings for the future to his sons, Jacob and Esau. It was by faith that Jacob, when he was old and dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons and bowed in worship as he leaned on his staff. It was by faith that Joseph, when he was about to die, said confidently that the people of Israel would leave Egypt. He even commanded them to take his bones with them when they left.
God reveals enough to allow us to place our faith in him. Like Joseph, we may not live to see the full story of God’s faithfulness in this life. Generations after Abraham, the Israelites seemed further from the Promised Land than ever before. But Joseph had seen God’s protection over him and his family, and he believed God’s promises, even if they were long in fulfillment. When the Israelites left Egypt generations later, Joseph’s bones were taken with them and buried in the Promised Land that Joseph had so fervently believed in (Joshua 24:32). Like Joseph, we can trust God with the future.
