“We know essentially nothing about the daily lives of most species.” The biologist who made this statement was referring to male field crickets who, surprisingly, give their mates priority in crawling into safe burrows when birds come hunting for them. But his statement in this morning’s USA Today describes nearly everything in today’s news.
The Occupy Wall Street movement has now expanded nationally, according to this morning’s Forbes. It began last month with a small number of young people who pitched a tent in front of the New York Stock Exchange. Yesterday, demonstrators marched in such disparate cities as Philadelphia, Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, and Anchorage.
Last night, the Detroit Tigers defeated the feared New York Yankees, who had the league’s best record and were playing at home. Tiger Woods played his first competitive PGA Tour event in 54 days, missing three putts within five feet while shooting a two-over-par 73. And Julia Roberts will break with her career-long “America’s sweetheart” persona when she plays the Evil Queen in a new Snow White movie due to premiere next spring.
Last Monday morning, did you know that Steve Jobs’ death would dominate the week’s headlines? Who predicted that three women’s rights activists–two in Liberia and one in Yemen–would win this year’s Nobel Peace Prize? Or that Amanda Knox’s conviction in Italy would be overturned?
What about Saturday don’t we know this morning? Nearly everything. How different would our lives be if we could see just one day into the future? We’d be able to avoid car accidents and stock market downturns. We could keep our children and jobs safer. If you could choose such clairvoyance, would you?
Why did God create a world which we must experience moment by moment? It seems to me that’s the only way we can be what he created us to be–children of our Father. His first priority for us is that we live in an intimate, personal relationship with him. From Eden to your home today, he wants to walk with you wherever you go (Genesis 3:8). We are made with a “God-shaped emptiness” (Pascal) so that our hearts are restless until they rest in him (St. Augustine).
If I could see tomorrow (a problematic logical concept, since to observe something is to change it and changing the future makes it as unpredictable as it is today), would I depend on my Father today? My favorite paragraph in Oswald Chambers’ My Utmost For His Highest comes to mind: “There is only one relationship that matters, and that is your personal relationship to a personal Redeemer and Lord. Let everything else go, but maintain that at all costs, and God will fulfill His purpose through your life. One individual life may be of priceless value to God’s purposes, and yours may be that life.”
Have you trusted your fears about tomorrow to the great I Am?
Search
