Predictions!

No one really knows what is going to happen; no one can predict the future. Ecclesiastes 10:14

February is here and along with it comes the season of predictions! In our kindergarten classes every year, the students loved predicting whether the groundhog would see his shadow or not. We checked out weather forecasts, talked about the science of shadows needing light, and each student made their prediction. Would the ground hog see his shadow and run back into his burrow predicting six more weeks of winter? Would it be cloudy enough that he didn’t see his shadow on this day and give us the prediction of an early spring? According to the results of yesterday, the prediction is six more weeks of winter.

Next, many of us will be predicting the winner of Super Bowl LIX between the Chiefs and the Eagles. The experts say there are certain predictors of the winner. They say such things as previous Super Bowl experience, better defense, ability to score the first points, the team leading at halftime, and the list goes on makes an difference. The fact is, no one knows the winner until the game has been played.

This past week we woke up to the horrible news of an airplane and helicopter crash on the Potomac River near Reagan Airport. The plane was predicted to land without incident, and the service men on the helicopter were predicted to complete their training mission and return to base. As our nation grieves yet another tragedy, our scripture reminds us that no one knows what might happen in any given day, and no one can predict the future. The verse emphasizes the unpredictability of life, and the limitations of humans.

There are those of us who read the horoscopes daily hoping to predict what our day might hold. In spite of all our efforts to arrange a predictable world, there are so many unpredictable things in life that very few things end up as we hoped, planned or thought they might be. One of the greatest sources of stress and anxiety is the necessity of adjusting to the unexpected. Many people are unable to survive the surprises of life which often happen to us while we are in the process of trying to make life more predictable. Life is seldom what we planned but rather what happens to us on the way to what we planned.

There is a legend about a man who very much wanted to know where the stock market would be in thirty days. If he could predict the level of the market in 30 days, he could invest all his assests in such a way that he would make enough money to be secure for the rest of his life. He could make his life predictable. One morning he got up and on his doorstep was a copy of the New York Times dated 30 days in advance. It was a miracle! He grabbed the paper and laid it out on the kitchen table looking, of course, for the financial section. As he searched, his eyes fell upon the obituary column, and he couldn’t resist taking a look. Imagine his surprise when the obituary he found was his own. Now nothing else mattered.

If we have learned anything during our years on this earth it is that life is rarely predictable. Things rarely turn out the way we thought they might; and rarely is the future in the form of what we expected. In spite of all we do to try and make our lives predictable, there are so many unexpected elements in life that we seldom end up as we expected.

God works in mysterious ways in our life and in the lives of those in this world. He works His will through strange people and circumstances. He is not bound by our limited vision of possibilities. Therefore, we have to learn to let God be God. Let Him do it His way.

My Daddy used to love to pretend to sing a few lines of the sonn Ah Sweet Mystery of Life by Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy. It certainly wasn’t a melodic rendition, but he seemed to mumble it everytime something in life went in an unexpected direction. The words are prophetic for all of us.

Ah, sweet mystery of life at last I’ve found thee. Ah, I know at last the secret of it all. All the longing, seeking, striving, waiting, yearning. The burning hopes, the joy and idle tears that fall. For ’tis love and love alone the world is seeking, And ’tis love and love alone, that can repay. ‘Tis the answer, ‘Tis the end and all of living. For ’tis love alone that rules for aye.

William Cowper wrote these words: God moves in mysterious ways His wonders to perform; He plants His footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm. Deep in unfathonable mines of never failing skill, He treasures up His bright designs and works His sovereign will. Judge not the Lord by feeble sense; But trust Him for His grace. Behind a frowning providence, He hides a smiling face.