Click
here to look up Bible PassagesTHE BLESSING OF NOT KNOWING
If this title sounds strange to you now, it won't by the time you have finished reading this message. The Apostle James in discussing the uncertainty of life wrote: "Go now, you that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas you know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away." James 4:13,14. The apostle reminds us that we have no knowledge of the future. As much as we would like to have it, it would not always be good, for many times it would involve disappointment, loss, sorrow and grief. So to lift the veil of the future could be distressing to us.
By way of example, it would have been no comfort to Adam and Eve to know they would succumb to the temptation of Satan - fall into sin and be sent out of the Garden of Eden. Read Genesis Chapter 3.
Supposing Abraham had known from Isaac's birth that the Lord would call upon him to offer this son of promise as a burnt offering after Isaac was a young man. The thought of this would have created untold agony and suffering in his soul. Supposing Joseph had known as a boy that one day his brothers would sell him like a slave. What would this have done to this family relationship? Could Joseph ever have had the proper attitude toward his brothers? It is very doubtful. Likely it would have led to hatred and despite. What comfort could it have been for Samson to know that the Philistines would one day gouge out his eyes and make sport of him as if he were a dog?
What would it have done to the Apostle Peter had he known that one day he would deny his Lord, curse and swear that he never knew him? Don't you imagine that this would have created such strained relations that Peter would have been a miserable, unhappy person? How could it have been any other way?
There is a blessing in not knowing the grief that comes with the loss of loved ones and friends. Our fondest joys and bitterest grief's grow on the same stalk, so to speak. Sometimes love involves suffering. The time comes when we have to walk away from the grave of a loved one and sever all earthly ties. To know in advance would probably fill us with a deep anguish and loneliness. We might be inclined to say that: "It is better never to have loved than to go on without it, after having it for a long period of time." Of course, this would be a mistake.
Tennyson was right when he wrote: "Tis better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all." Grief is not too great a price to pay for love. Supposing you knew you were going to be afflicted with an incurable disease that would involve a lengthy illness and agonizing pain. What do you think this would do to your character and personality? Would it take the joy out of living? To say the least, it would make it difficult for you to maintain a proper sense of humor.
Or supposing you knew that somewhere down the way you would be involved in an automobile accident leaving you a cripple, an invalid for life. It would take a very unusual person indeed to keep from becoming despondent and miserable.
Read II Corinthians Chapter 11 and notice the afflictions and calamities the Apostle Paul underwent. To have known this, for example, when he first became a Christian might very well have been too much for him. He does mention his affliction in the flesh and how on three occasions he entreated the Lord that it might depart from him. The Lord's answer was: "My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness." II Corinthians 12:7-9.
It is best that we do not know when death will come our way. If we did, many of us would put off doing things by way of preparation that should be done now. This is why Jesus admonished us not to be anxious for tommorow saying, "Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34. That rendering is from the New American Standard Version. There is a sense of urgency in everything we do, for any day may be the last.
Not knowing what is before us teaches us to trust in God. There are times when we might think we have been trusting in God, but the real test would indicate otherwise. If we knew and could control much of the future, self-confidence would take over. But then, we would not be walking by faith according to II Corinthians 5:7. God arranged so that we only have to be burdened with one day's problems at a time. That does seem wise, doesn't it?
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