"who Knows?"

Some people think it would be wonderful to see what will happen tomorrow and beyond. “Just show me what the stock market will do, and I’ll be rich.” “Show me what is coming for me so I can be prepared.” Think again.

If we were to see all the blessings and benefits waiting for us in God’s providence, we would waste today yearning for the future.

If we were to see all the trials, troubles and tribulations awaiting us, we’d live in dread of the future and miss or squander the opportunities of today.

But people still try horoscopes, fortune tellers, mediums, tea leaves, palm readers, Ouija Boards and psychics in an effort to move the curtain away that stands between the now and the then. I heard about one Psychic Hotline that went bankrupt. Wouldn’t you think they would have seen that coming?

God forbids all fortune telling. “When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, you shall not learn to imitate the detestable things of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. For whoever does these things is detestable to the LORD; and because of these detestable things the LORD your God will drive them out before you. You shall be blameless before the LORD your God. For those nations, which you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice witchcraft and to diviners, but as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do so.” Deuteronomy 18:9-14 (NASB).

Gerald and Katie brought to us their rendition of a song that deals with our limitation. It points out what we don’t know and what we can know. Let’s think about our knowledge or lack thereof.

There are times we ask, “What if ...?” and get all shook up. “What if Covid flares up?” What if the economy crashes?” At other times we make plans as though they were certainties, with no “If” about it.

But listen to James: “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.’ Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.’ But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.” James 4:13-17 (NASB). In light of that, I ask “Who knows?”

I. EVERY ONE OF US MUST ADMIT: “THERE ARE THINGS I DON’T KNOW!”

A. James said, “You do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.” The song also stated our human lack of knowledge, saying,

“I don’t know about tomorrow

It may bring me poverty;

But the one who feeds the sparrow

Is the one who stands by me.

And the path that be portion

May be through the flame or flood.

But His presence goes before me

And I’m covered with His blood.”

B. The fantasy is that we can gain a glimpse at tomorrow through some hokey fortune teller, but the reality is they are no help. They don’t know either.

1. We don’t know the events, the exigencies or the extent of life.

2. We don’t know what our financial status will be. We may be flush or be flushed; we may be rich or poor; we may be prosperous or paupers. But Paul wrote, “And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19 (NASB).

3. We don’t know how our unforseen needs may be met. But Jesus said, “Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?” Matthew 6:26 (NASB).

4. We don’t know what our health will be, but even if it goes south, it is true, “though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:16-18 (NASB).