A contrived conversation with God on what the future holds

Me: Lord I need to ask you something.

God: Fire away.

Me: Well, I have been praying for a few things lately – some for others, some for myself – and it crossed my mind that I may be praying for things that will never happen. I have faith in you and that you can accomplish anything but I’ve given up on the idea of demanding answers as if that proved my faith.

God: Your reasoning is sound and it’s true that believing harder doesn’t justify your faith. You need faith only as small as a tiny seed and so long as your faith is in me you can accomplish great things.

Please explain why you think you might be praying in vain.

Me: Well, if you know everything that’s going to happen it would make sense for me to be privy to that information so I can pray just for those things that will come about rather than running through a wish list.

God: But that would give you knowledge without wisdom. Could I trust you with that sort of information?

Me: No, probably not. I see your point. But what do I do with the niggling doubts? It doesn’t feel right praying “Your will be done” all the time because that kind of negates the point of praying and if I keep praying for stuff that doesn’t materialize how can I justify my faith.

God: You will have to deal with your doubts because no matter what I do they will surface. Doubts and fear must be met with courage and the only way to prove courage is to be reckless in confronting them. You will also need to be reckless in your faith and pray with conviction, not fearing the consequences if you’re wrong. I’m not telling you what you don’t already know but I understand how you can get confused.

You require wisdom and courage: wisdom so that you don’t make a mockery of your faith and courage because your apparent lack of faith is actually fear of doing the wrong thing.

Me: But it’s not just fear of being wrong, its also fear of loss – of not having my needs met or of others being dissappointed. Am I wrong in being afraid of disappointment?

God: No, you are not wrong. Your most basic need is to be loved and that doesn’t simply mean being cared for. It means being valued and affirmed. Your sense of who you are is vital to your wellbeing and if, in any way, your faith in me is undermined your spirit will be crushed. Hope deferred makes the heart sick.

Go on.

Me: Given that I have to accept I can’t be certain of the future the gnawing doubt about the usefulness of my prayers still troubles me. You have told us of things that will happen and we have stories in the Bible where what you have predicted has come true. I think the real issue is a feeling of fatalism – not so much whether we can know something will happen but the inevitability of it.

God: This is no mere curiosity is it? Its about the future.

Me: I suppose it is. If you know everything that will happen then surely it will happen.

God: What you say has a logic about it but assumes many things. Firstly you assume there is a single space time continuum on which we all travel; that your future is my future.

Me: I don’t understand.

God: Let me explain.

Your present and future don’t actually exist any more than the horizon or the equator. As soon as you name the present it has passed; your future is mere conjecture and your past is no longer under your control. I have no past or future; I am forever present. Your past, present and future are all current to me.

Furthermore my ways are beyond your understanding. To say I can foretell what will come is to place me in time. For you that is true but for me it is altogether different. I have never claimed to be a seer – I don’t see, I know. But what I know you cannot comprehand. It’s therefore futile for you to attempt to understand what it means for me to know the future.

I have given you all you need to pray effectively; all you need to be significant and whatever you don’t have, ask and I will give it to you. Simply know that I AM your Father, the one who IS.