Shilloi Sawang
How many of us, given a chance would like to know what our future holds? Almost every newspaper or magazine today carries a horoscope or birthday forecast column. While some folks occasionally glance through it and read it “for fun”, others can’t seem to get their day started without having first run through the astro-page. Call it what you may, the Bible calls it ‘divination’ and God forbids it. Leviticus 19 pairs divination with sorcery and lists it among the same s6t of forbidden acts as idolatry. So for those who say it’s just for fun, get real. When we pay attention to such writings, we partake in an act that dabbles with the spirit world and commit sin that is nothing short of spiritual adultery. It defiles us.
True, Man is first and foremost a spirit being, designed to function and operate in the realm of the spirit. But our gateway to spiritual experience is only through the One who opened the way for us - Jesus. He is the only Way. All other ways are illegal and unacceptable by God. Besides, anything that is not of God is of the devil. Our willingness to dwell on the predictions of a fortune-teller is an indication of our misplaced trust. It’s like we can’t trust God to handle our future properly and we have to give Him a tip or two out of the pages of a tabloid.
Our God is the Ancient of Days, the God of yesterday, today and tomorrow. He is the Alpha and the Omega and He knows the End from the Beginning. Even before we were formed in our mother’s womb, He knew us. Even before we were born, He died for us. Even before we ever saw the light of day, He made us a people with a destiny. And our destiny is to live a life that is blessed by Him while we’re on earth, and thereafter to spend eternity with Him. This is the desire of His heart and He has never willed otherwise. He knows the plans He has for us. Plans to prosper us and not to harm us, plans to give us a hope and a future. (Jer 29: 11). So when we choose not to trust God implicitly with our future we actually snub Him.
God reveals to us about our future only as much as we need to know and He does so through His Living Word, though He could sometimes choose to talk: to us through dreams and visions. A mighty man of God once said that if he had known 30 years ago that he would one day become a preacher, he would never have been born again! Because at that point of time becoming a preacher was not what he wanted to be. God takes us to a higher level of maturity before He reveals to us what’s next in store. All we need to do is to trust Him and allow Him to lead us. He knows the potential within each of us and sees exactly when we’re ready to take on the task He has for us. He knows just ‘what’ and ‘how much’ to tell us at ‘which’ point of time. And His timing is always perfect.
This is what the Christian walk of faith is about. Knowing not what the future holds but knowing that God is sovereign and in control of our future. So the next time somebody asks you what your zodiac sign is, remember you are a child of God and not a bull, ram, scorpion or crab. Your future is controlled not by the stars, but by the One who put the stars in their place. Your future is as bright as the promises of God.
