What’s Happening Tomorrow

You can make many plans, but the LORD’s purpose will prevail. Proverbs 19:21 NLT

“It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future.” These words of wisdom from Yogi Berra could easily apply to a list of 1925 predictions made for 2025. Dr. A.R. Wentz predicted that we would communicate with a pocket-sized apparatus. He predicted that we would take a pill every day as our food source instead of having to work at planting and cultivating crops. He was confident that there would be world peace, a common world currency, and universal free trade by 2025. (based on an article by Mark Price, Akron Beacon)

So how did he do? Dr. Wentz was spot on with the pocket-size apparatus. The current statistics show roughly 98% of Americans own a mobile phone, with the average age being 11.6 when people get their first phone.  Though industrial chemicals are found in lots of food, no one is simply popping a pill to get their nutrients, and, even as a sci-fi fan, I am thankful for home-cooked meals. Dr. Wentz missed the mark on world peace, currency, and free trade – unless you consider Bitcoins!

Sir Ronald Ross tried his hand at predicting the future in 1925. Sir Ross predicted we would all live to be 150 years old because of scientific advances. E.E. Fournier d’Albe expected a Utopian society for everyone by 2025. “The earth will be under one government, and one language will be written and understood, or even spoken, all over the globe…Travel and commerce will be free and unfettered, and calamities will be alleviated and dangers met by the united forces of all mankind.” I will let you draw your conclusion on how Dr. d’Albe did on his predictions.

It was a little hit-and-miss on 2025 projections, so what do the future predictions look like? Quantumrun Foresight has 390 predictions out on its 2050 timeline. They are predicting that skyscrapers will function as cities within themselves to address a growing population projected to be 6.3 billion people living in cities, that the average number of connected devices per person will be 25, the total share of global car sales for autonomous vehicles will equal 90 percent and coffee will become a luxury due to climate change and the loss of suitable farming land. This last one is pretty scary for us coffee drinkers. (Future Timeline, Quantumrun Foresight)

Abraham Lincoln and Iker Urrutia both had some insights related to the future. Lincoln’s observation of the future was, “The most reliable way to predict the future is to create it.” Urrutia in a similar fashion said, “The future doesn’t happen to us; we build and shape it. We have agency over it, but we need to start building it today.”

I grant there is some truth in both men’s quotes but they left out a major element, as do many of the futurist projections: God is left out of the equation. The temptation towards self-reliance is all very real, yet without God, plans are out of balance.

Billy Graham lived a life that gave God center stage and recognized how little he could predict the future. Dr. Graham said of the future, “Only God knows the future, but we can certainly learn a great deal about it from the Bible. Over and over through the ages of time God sent his prophets to the people to warn them of things to come. Rather than be fascinated in man’s predictions that fall short, be fascinated about what God has done—and is doing—in the world. Explore the great truths of Scripture, for when we delve into the book of wisdom and ask the Lord to open its truth, he will.”

Most of us would agree it is hard just planning for tomorrow, forgetting about hundreds of years from now. Somedays it is hard enough just to plan for dinner tonight. What does God think about the future for you?

God’s vision for you is one of hope. More than likely all of us will find ourselves in “Babylon” struggling through a life crisis, a health issue, or family problems but then God comes alongside us with the words, “For I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD. They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.” –Jeremiah 29:11-14 NLT

God’s vision for you is one of courage. A message that he will be with you through everything. There will be days when you struggle with confidence, doubting your every decision but then God comes alongside you with the message, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” — Philippians 4:6-7 NLT

God’s vision for you is one of refuge. His is a promise of safety in the middle of your storms when the sky is dark and the roads impassable. God pulls you close with the message, “God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble. So, we will not fear when earthquakes come and the mountains crumble into the sea. Let the oceans roar and foam. Let the mountains tremble as the waters surge! –Psalm 46:1-3 NLT

You think your future projections are good since they are based on solid statistics or you make projections based on current trends only for them to collapse because of something out of your control. C.S. Lewis in his The Screwtape Letters wrote, “In a word, The Future is, of all things, the thing least like eternity. It is the most completely temporal part of time—for the Past is frozen and no longer flows, and the Present is all lit up with eternal rays.”

John Greenleaf Whittier beautifully captured the future in his old hymn, written in 1867 – I Know Not What the Future:

I know not what the future hath of marvel or surprise,

Assured alone that life and death his mercy underlies.

And thou, O Lord, by whom are seen Thy creatures as they be,

Forgive me if too close I lean my human heart on thee.  (Baptist Hymnal,1975 Edition)

God is great!

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