What's Next?

[HKHaugan]

The future, every next moment, not knowing what lies ahead; that is what the Bible is designed to carry us to and through. The past is only an awakening to the future. The present is only the past waiting to happen and the future blossoming in every next present moment. Therefore the question is not what can I do to make myself secure in it but rather how can I experience life in it? This is why the Bible is a book about belief, trust and faith. Faith is the door that makes every next moment the most important moment in your life. Belief and trust are its hinges.

Creation itself is not a platform for stagnation but movement. It is filled with anticipation, expectation, discovery and that ignition switch, curiosity. Whether it is the undiscovered, the yet-to-be-found or the wonder in speculating about things yet to be, the human heart, mind and spirit were built to look ahead. We were not created to live life looking through the rear view mirror but through the windshield. Where we’ve been is simply a springboard for where we are going. This is true of every field of endeavor. If there are mistakes and errors their substance, fear, is what prevents us from thinking and moving forward, in other word, being faithful. The reason we correct mistakes is because they stand in the way of smoothing the road ahead. It takes faith not excuse to correct a mistake. Fear is the opposite of faith.

If we think about why we educate, why we struggle to refine relationships, to whom and what we turn to get direction, the final conclusion is simply for the unknown future that lies ahead. The foundation for the future, the every next moment we face, is who and what we choose to meet them. That choice takes faith. Deep inside us is the need to be right as opposed to wrong, good instead of evil, accepted not rejected, relational not alone, living with purpose instead of random abandon, confidence replacing anxiety and finally being able to look back because it was all a preparation for meeting the Creator in the final moment. That final moment is the right moment, the good moment, the relational moment, the spiritual moment, the purpose moment, the confident moment and the one we’ve all been waiting for, the faith moment, the moment we meet the Lord face to face, faith to faith. He is the One who sums up all our moments, makes the final summary of our choices and is the perfect summation of existence.

Here are parts of that great anthem of faith in Hebrews 11 (NIV). Read it with every next moment in mind:
1 Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. 2 This is what the ancients were commended for. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible…….
7 By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family. By his faith he condemned the world and became heir of the righteousness that is in keeping with faith.
8 By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9 By faith he made his home in the Promised Land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10 For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.……..
13 All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. 14 People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. 15 If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them……..
17 By faith Abraham, when God tested him, offered Isaac as a sacrifice. He who had embraced the promises was about to sacrifice his one and only son, 18 even though God had said to him, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.……..
24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.……..
39 These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, 40 since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.

If we look at the word will in the Bible we find it is a verb and a noun. It is a future word, an ‘ahead’ word, a faith word, looking forward.

First, as a noun, the will of God. Jesus said “For I have come down from Heaven not to do my will but to do the will of Him who sent me…For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life…(Jn.6:38,40).” Note its future tone directed at all people in all time and its promise beyond. In every case when Jesus uses this word it is both a noun and a will.
Second, and this is brief, when someone writes a will he does it for the future not the past. Its contents are intended for the future of its beneficiaries.
Third, the noun has a verbal sense, “And this is the will of Him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that He has given me…(for the believer) and I will raise him up at the last day (vs.39, 40).
When Jesus faced death He prayed “Not my will but yours be done (Lk.22:42).” Jesus was looking ahead by faith in His Father.

If we can put it simply, the will of God is to will what He wills which is to willingly will what He wills not knowing what lies ahead but discovering God’s will in the process. Another way to put it is that God’s will is not to know His will until we have by faith discovered it while we are on the way willing to do in faith whatever the moment calls for. His will for us is to be willing. God’s will is always one step ahead, the ‘Oh,-now-I-see!’ events that draw us inexorably toward the next moment, every next moment where God is willing to wait for us to trust Him. This is why Jesus bids us “Come, follow me and I will make you fishers of men (Mt.4:19).” With Jesus every next moment is an open page ready to be filled with our faith and its discoveries which become our testimonies, which in turn build our witness. This is when we are fulfilling His will in us. Jesus’ wonderful illustration of this was when He came down from a mountain and was asked by a willing man, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean” to which Jesus answered, “I am willing” and he healed the man (Mt.8:3).” This is exactly the attitude with which Jesus faced every next moment. And now the question: “What’s next for you?”