APP: There’s a research group on the West Coast with nearly forty years of forecasting experience. Their core work is identifying emerging trends that will transform global society. Their objective is to create insights on trends for everything from health care to technology to human identity. People have always been intrigued by the future. Those who have had a steady diet of science fiction start to imagine what the future will be like. But no matter what claims are made, no one can accurately predict all that’s going to happen in the future. The best forecasts are really just educated guesses.
Changes in our society have not only increased in speed and intensity, but also in their unpredictability. How can anyone succeed when the future is so uncertain? It’s not hard to see why so many people fear the future. One of the most important things we can do is include God in our plans. It’s crazy to make plans without checking with God first. He’s the only one who truly does know the future—and He’s excited about guiding you through it. Talk with God for advice as you plan; then act on your plan as you trust Him.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
JEREMIAH 29:11–13 NIV
Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogant schemes. All such boasting is evil.
JAMES 4:13–16 NIV
“Therefore I [Jesus] tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?”
MATTHEW 6:25 NIV
“But seek first his [God’s] kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
MATTHEW 6:33–34 NIV