Wondering What's Ahead

Do you ever wish that God would show you just a peek into your future, or at least just one aspect of your future?

For the past week or so I've been listening to the book "The Time Traveler's Wife". It's a good book, but one of those that for some reason I think I like better listening to than I would reading. The story is about a man who time-travels against his own will, and the ramifications of this time-traveling on his life and marriage. It's not like "Back to the Future" time travel; instead he pretty much just revisits his own childhood or his wife's childhood. On occasion he travels to the near future and sees himself as 5 or 10 years older. It's during these future excursions that he learns about things that happen to him and his family - both good and bad.

Anyway, this story has me thinking about my future. There are several things about my life that sometimes I just want to know the answer to. What does my future hold in terms of career, marriage, home, family, etc? I sometimes think that if I just knew what God has in store for me in these areas then life would be easier, and I wouldn't waste time and energy wondering or worrying about things.

But isn't it this unknowing aspect of our lives that builds faith and trust in God's sovereignty? If I knew the good that was to come, what value or comfort is there in verses like Jeremiah 29:11-12, where God says 'For I know the plans I have for you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and pray to me, and I will listen to you.'? If I already knew God's good plan for me, there would be no reason to cling to this and like verses; they would be meaningless.

What if I knew the bad and painful stuff that was to come into my life? Would that make me resent God, or become angry at Him because I know what He will be bringing some painful event into my life at some point? Or would I try to avoid or prevent this bad thing from happening in the first place? That would be futile - 'He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a man, that he should change his mind' (I Sam 15:29).

I guess there's a reason why God gave us humans limited, finite minds. Our minds cannot comprehend Him or the ways in which He works. Trusting and waiting in hopeful expectation can be hard sometimes, but I believe God has a purpose in it, even if that purpose is hidden from me until He chooses (if He chooses) to show me why.