Whether men can know the future is also a question that has raised the eyebrows of many people. In modern days, there is an attempt to know how tomorrow will be by science, dreams, or spiritual experience. However, as I heard this subject of the Members Church of God International (MCGI) I realized something really profound, that the future is in the hands of the God, and a man lacks it.
This is a truth evident in the bible. Ecclesiastes 8:7 (KJV) says, For he knoweth not that which shall be: for who can tell him when it shall be? This verse makes us aware of the fact that it is not possible to find out what happens next by a human being. We can make plans and anticipations but the ability to view the future is the prerogative of God alone. I have observed that in life, despite our wisdom and technology, there are things that we still do not know. It reveals that man has a limited perception.
According to the Scripture, in James 4:1315, it is said, Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city... but ye know not what shall become thee tomorrow. This excerpt informs us that human beings like planning, but they forget that tomorrow is not theirs. I have had my plans myself before that never came to pass as life turned the other way around. It informed me that I cannot look into the future, but I can trust in the One who possesses it God.
Numerous individuals nowadays would rush to the fortune-teller, astrologers or preachers who purport to understand the future. But the Bible is very warning of this. Deuteronomy 18:1012 God says that every one who practices divination or attempts to talk with spirits is doing an abomination. The reason is that such acts attempt to steal the power of God and make it human. Whether such people are so convincing or not, they only speculate or they have been affected by evil spirits.
But it is a fact that, God can show some things to the men by his own Spirit, but only when He chooses to. Amos 3:7 states that, the Lord God will not do anything, but he will show his secret to his servants, the prophets. This implies that it is not the men who can steal the knowledge of the future; knowledge of the future is given by God at His own will. The prophets in the Bible even did not know everything, they knew only what God permitted them to know.
Through this teaching, I understood that we should not aim at knowing the future, but trusting God. Proverbs 3:5-6, says, trust the Lord with all thy heart, lean not on thine own understanding. When we trust in him, we do not need to be concerned about the future. God knows the end and the beginning and He will guide us on the right path.
To sum it up, men cannot know what is going to happen. Only God has that authority. We can only do the best, which is to live righteously today, follow His Word and leave tomorrow to Him. It is also through the MCGI teaching that I was reminded that life is easier when we trust God and not by making guesses about the future. And, after all, as the Bible says in Matthew 6: 34, Take therefore no thought to-morrow... because he that possesses tomorrow possesses us also.