Seeing Ahead

Seeing Ahead

Only I can tell you the future before it even happens. Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish. Isaiah 46:10

FROM THE TOP OF A SKYSCRAPER, you can see things happening for miles around—the traffic jam that cars speeding down the highway will soon be stuck in; clouds on the horizon that will soon determine the weather in your city; the end of the route in a parade or marathon, even as some participants are just getting started. You know a lot simply because of your lofty perspective.

God sees everything—the beginning of the story and the end of it, possibilities and problems, participants and observers, all at the same time. He knows the future before it happens, and he allows nothing that will interfere with his ultimate plans. He is never caught off guard, and he is completely at peace even as the story progresses. His lofty perspective puts him above whatever causes us anxiety, stress, and strain.

Faith is meant to lift us from an earthly to a heavenly perspective. Whether or not God has revealed his specific intentions—sometimes he gives us that privilege—we can trust in his purposes and outcomes. We can rest completely in peace as the story progresses because we know nothing will ultimately thwart his plans for us. We can embrace a skyscraper point of view with an eye on coming events, potential problems, and available solutions because we know the one who is over them all. We have no need to question the end of the race. It is already seen from above.

That doesn’t mean God will show us every detail of the trials and processes we are going through, but he does allow us to enter into the emotions and hope of his perspective. If we seek him, he shows us enough of what we need to know. Regardless of how clearly we see, standing at the beginning and seeing the end is part of the vision of faith. The prayer of faith calls into the present what has not yet come to pass. It puts us in a place of lofty, hopeful expectations. It gives us peace no matter where we are along the way.

Those who keep speaking about the sun while walking under a cloudy sky are messengers of hope, the true saints of our day.