“And behold, now I am going up to Jerusalem in the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there” (Acts 20:22).
In secular matters, we usually want to know what is going to happen. Most of our planning is based on prediction: how can we prepare if we don’t know what events we will have to deal with? And so we spend a lot of energy predicting the future. We believe that a successful and safe journey depends on having a map of the exact area we will be passing through. And we not only try to predict the future, we also try to control it. As much as possible, we want to choose our own itinerary.
However, in spiritual matters, we have to learn a different kind of protection. As Andrew Dhuse said, “God’s will is not an itinerary but a vision.” We are not told what will happen in the future. Travel can take us down many different paths, none of which we can predict or prepare for. So we have been given no map, only a compass, and we have to be content to be guided by God.
In order to do the Lord’s work, Paul needed to go to Jerusalem, where there could be danger. But Paul could live with uncertainty. With his heart set on God, he did not need to know what was going to happen: “I am going up to Jerusalem in the Spirit, not knowing what will happen to me there.”
Abraham is another example of how this works. From the comfort of Ur, Abraham was asked to leave the familiar, predictable path to which he had grown accustomed. God said, “Go out from your country and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you” (Genesis 12:1). And Abraham trusted God enough to let Him decide which area to cross. “He went out, and did not know where he was going” (Hebrews 11:8).
Today, most of us have certain ideas about what kind of life we want. We have one or two scenarios in mind that describe the paths we would like to take between here and heaven. But we need to be careful. We should not hold on to those scenarios so tightly that we cannot let go of them. And we should not depend on knowing in advance what kind of life we will live. The truth is that we do not need to know the area. We don’t need a map. We just need a compass we can trust.
“Abraham did not know the way, but he knew the guide” (Lee Roberson).
Gary Henry – WordPoints.com AreYouaChristian.com
