One thing is sure: the future is uncertain. Whether it is second-guessing exam results or anticipating a Covid-19 spike, we just don’t know. We human beings have to learn to live with uncertainty.
St Paul was no exception. You will remember that when he was contemplating a journey to Jerusalem, he encountered a prophet named Agabus. (Agabus had form as a prophet. See Acts 11.28. He made no bones about it. He spoke as he found.) He took Paul’s belt, bound his own hands and feet with it (we don’t quite know how) and uttered a dire warning. ‘This is what will happen to you if you persist in your plan to go to Jerusalem.’ More than that, he said he was speaking under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. As if that were not enough, the local people begged and implored Paul to abandon his idea of heading for Jerusalem. ‘So, as he would not be dissuaded, we gave up and said, “The Lord’s will be done.”’ (Acts 21) ‘Nobody said: ‘Belt up, Agabus.’ Things took their course. Paul’s resolution did not weaken. His friends expressed their concern and got to understand that however convinced they were they were barking up the wrong tree.
In the absence of invincible knowledge of what the future has in store, we weigh up the options and make the best decision we can. This is not a matter of mathematics; physicists and mathematicians can take us only so far in the matter of forecasting. And outside their own prescribed sphere they make the same mistakes as the rest of us. We may find ourselves at best intimidated by the sweep of the cosmos and the pettiness of our own concerns. We are being reasonable when we look for some meaning, some pattern, in our time on this obscure little planet. We should not try to silence any Agabus who may be around. The Lord’s Prayer recognises this when it says ‘Thy will be done’ rather than ‘Show us thy will.’ Some reticence is appropriate when we feel tempted to say we know the will of God.
What Paul recognised in the first century CE is the same as what we understand today. We lesser people may have gained an assurance that there is a meaning in our lives but it is a meaning that we see in a glass darkly. Like Abraham before the days of Paul, we go out, not knowing where we go to. We may not be clear about what the future holds for us but we can be confident that the Creator knows what he is about.
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