When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid; terror filled his heart. He inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him … Saul then said … , “Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her.” 1 Samuel 28:5-7
When Janette Aragon first answered the phone and a caller asked, “Can you tell me my future?” she thought someone was playing a prank on her. After all, she was the secretary of Missionary Enterprises—that’s a Christian organization. She had no experience with crystal balls or tarot cards. The man was dead serious. “How did you get our phone number?” she inquired.
It was right there in the tabloid newspaper, and he read the ad to her over the phone, “Spanish card reading … answers all your questions about love, money, [and the] future ….” Then the man read the phone number. A typesetter had made a mistake, thus putting in the number of Missionary Enterprises instead of the telephone number of the fortune teller who expected to get the calls.
After Janette recovered from her initial surprise, she explained there are answers to the questions about the future—they are found in a book called the Bible. She told the caller how Jesus Christ came to change our futures, to remove the questions as to where we will spend eternity.
“I want to know your God!” exclaimed the caller, and believe it or not, a tabloid newspaper majoring in scintillating and sensational, was the means of a man’s coming to know Jesus Christ.
The fact is people want to know. Will my boyfriend marry me? Will my business succeed? Will I have children? Will my money run out before I die? Can I succeed in love and marriage? Will I pass my exams next week?
When a Christian group ran an ad in a Manila newspaper which asked, “Would you like to know your future?” and gave a post office box for a response, more than 10,000 people responded.
Never before have more people invested more false hopes in astrology, tarot card readings, mediums, and fortune tellers in the desire of knowing what the future holds than today. All of these and a host of other hopeful glimpses into the future have become big businesses, but only God knows the future.
Bringing the whole issue down to where you live, your street, how much do you personally know of your future? Doctors using ultrasound can usually predict the sex of an unborn child, but some parents choose not to know the sex of that child. They want it to be a surprise, and some people, likewise, would prefer not knowing what tomorrow holds, fearful that it will not be to their liking. Most people, though, want to know.
Yes, a guru can mystically gaze into a crystal ball and tell you in vague generalities what might happen to you (for a price, of course). But God knows with absolute certainty.
Ira Stanphill put it, “I don’t know about tomorrow but I know Who holds my hand.” That assurance can be yours, friend. How much better to know as you face the future that God walks with you, that His son, Jesus Christ, will never leave or forsake you, than to have someone give you a false prophesy as to what will happen to you. God’s child never walks alone, and in that sense, he’s connected to the future. If you could visualize God’s Son, Jesus Christ, walking with you hand in hand, would you care about the specific details?
That wasn’t the only call Janette received. In the next few days, more than 50 callers called, asking the same question, “How can I know the future?” In His Word, the Bible, you can find out what it really is. Read it, friend. It will answer your question, “Can you tell me my future?” Indeed, God can.
Resource Reading: 1 Samuel 28:5-16
