Do you ever have those “what if” moments? Those moments in life when you step back and look at a situation and ask yourself “What if this happens” or “What if that happens”? What if something good happens? What if something bad happens? What would I do?
Preparing for the future is always a good idea, I say. Knowing your limits is also good. Knowing the resources you have, knowing the people you can trust are also both good things to know. But what happens when those “what if” questions take over your life? What happens when you can’t do anything without asking “what if”? Granted, you should always consider the consequences before you act. That’s only wise. But considering consequences and asking what if questions are two completely different things.
Like crossing a bridge. If you cross a foot bridge across a river, considering the consequences would involve asking yourself what’s on the other side, how you need to prepare for it, what you need to bring with you. Asking yourself “what if” before leaving would be asking yourself if the bridge will hold your weight. Considering the consequences of your actions means you care about the people around you, that you care about your future, that you aren’t just acting blindly and forging ahead without any sort of map. Asking “what if” means you’re afraid of the future.
Bend in the path of a topiary maze at the Dallas Arboretum, Dallas, TX
Today’s verse is Isaiah 46:10.
Only I can tell you the future
before it even happens.
Everything I plan will come to pass,
for I do whatever I wish.
Our futures are mostly unknown. And don’t get me wrong. I like time travel movies and books as much as any other geek. In fact, I’ve written novels about time travel, and in some vein it’s an alluring concept to be able to change it or to be able to anticipate what’s coming. But it’s called science fiction for a reason. God Himself says through Isaiah the prophet here that only He can tell us the future before it happens.
God has revealed what we need to know about the future. And for the blank spots, we have His character as a witness to what He will do.
Life is full of unknowns, and all of those uncertainties can weigh us down if we let them. And I’ve recently been struggling with that dreaded “what if” question quite a bit because there are a lot of unknowns in my life right now. True, there are a lot of things I know for sure, and I’m thankful for those. But the things I’m not sure about are always floating around my brain, screaming loudly and trying to distract from the things I know for sure.
Part of being a writer is the ability to connect dots between details, and most of the time it’s a blessing because I can make a story out of anything. But for the rest of life it’s a headache because my brain is constantly putting pieces together for things that may not happen in my life, for good or for bad.
So how do you handle the “what if” moments? How do you answer them? This week, I think I’m going to focus on that because I’m facing some big “what ifs.” What if I fail? What if I succeed? What if it’s not that easy? What if it was easy and I made it too complicated? What if this? What if that? What if, what if, what if. It’s enough to make me just wish my brain would shut off.
There’s a song by a blind singer named Ginny Owens that I love, called “Live Once.” And there’s a line in that song that I always think about when I’m facing those petrifying what if moments.
I can face what I don’t know
By singing about what I do
And that’s really what it comes down to. Life is full of unknowns, but we can face the unknowns using what we know for sure as our weapon. I may not know what the next stretch of road in my journey will hold for me, but I do know that God set it out before me. And if God set me on this road, He wouldn’t send me for no reason and He wouldn’t send me alone. Because I may not know what’s at the end of it, but I know He sent me. And that really tells me all I need to know about it because I know Him.
The eventual end is happy because God has promised it will be. He can tell us the future if He wants to, and He’s told us what He wants us to know. The rest of the time, He does what He wants. And that’s great. Because good people do good things, and God is always good.
So when you face that decision or that bend in the road, don’t focus on the uncertainties ahead. Focus on what you know for sure. When that voice comes along in your brain and asks you “What if?” … Answer “So what?” If God has sent you, He has a plan, and His plan is better than yours anyway, even if it may not feel like it right now.
What if I fail? So what? God just has another opportunity in mind. What if I succeed? So what? God will give me the strength I need. You can answer those questions because you know who God is. You can face those uncertainties because what you know for sure won’t change.
Always Peachy 