With Time Comes Perspective

The future is uncertain and most of the time scary, bad things can happen but so can good things. Most of us look at the future based on what we experience on the past.

The Bible has a way of giving perspective of the future through prophecies. Some of these prophesies are fulfilled like the prophecy of doom where it was foretold that the nation of Israel would be conquered and exiled and there are prophecies of hope that a savior will come. And there are also prophecies of things that have not yet come to pass like the second coming of Jesus Christ. These prophecies are revelations that come from God that give us a little perspective of life.

Like prophecies, hope and despair are two sides of the same coin, glimpses of the future. But they aren't divine revelations, only assumptions about the future. Despair is being helpless in assuming that nothing will get any better, and hope is assuming that things will get better. But having hope gives you a much more positive attitude towards life and solving problems as compared to despair.

Despair can be likened to 'learned helplessness' which is a popular concept in psychology. And the sad fact is when the opportunity arises for people with learned helplessness to get out of their miserable situation, they don't take the option because they have figured that everything is just going to be the way it is, miserable, sad, or lonely, forever. Past experiences help mold this learned helplessness, but as someone overcomes more challenges, they learn that there are more solutions and ways to deal with the miserable fires of life.

Faith, or knowing that God has a good plan for you, is also interlinked with hope and despair. This is an outlook of trust in God's goodness and character despite of present circumstances. This can be difficult to believe when circumstances are bad. A parable can illustrate this. Imagine losing your wallet on your holiday to Europe. You lose all your money and credit cards and get kicked out of the hotel you are staying at. You can't eat anywhere decent and have just enough change to buy a biscuit. Then you meet a stranger who just happens to be your future wife or business partner. Then happy ending of story.  God is who he is, and he has made good plans for those who love him. At one point of his life David, a king of Israel, looked back on life and reflected, "I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread." (Psalm 37:25)

Knowing the past, present, future is ideal for a comfortable life. However, being humans we can only wait for events to pass by before we can gain a full appreciation of what is going on. Did God create us without the complete knowledge of the future to cultivate in us faith and hope?