You Were Made for Moreনমুনা

The Anticipator

Message

I used to read today’s verse and imagine that reading the Bible was something like having a really cool long range, high beam headlight that would allow you to see way into the future. Wouldn’t that be awesome?

However, our research on unicorns didn’t tell us anything about their ability to predict the future long-term realities. But they did show a habit and gift for anticipation. I suppose anticipation is a form of seeing the future, but it’s a much more immediate future, it’s about responding to things a half step sooner than everyone else.

Unicorns are the kind of people you play pool with who are regularly planning three and four shots ahead of the one they’re currently hitting. Or the golfer who starts on the tee of a very long hole asking where the pin is because they’re planning well ahead.

So how do you cultivate this gift of anticipation?

When David wrote about the scriptures being a word that was a lamp to his feet and a light unto his path, he was being literal. This was not some figure of speech for being able to see what’s coming. Rather, David was talking about sandals people used to wear for walking at night. They had small lanterns on the end of them that would allow you to see into the dark, but only for a half step or two.

During the pandemic and the lockdown that came with it, I think we saw that the people who excelled were people who could think about what was going to happen a half step ahead of everybody else. Nobody could see what the future with or past Covid would look like. But the winners were ones who learned how to spot the next trend and the next reality just a little bit sooner than everyone else. That’s almost like seeing into the dark just one step ahead of the rest of the world. As we venture into this new year, if you commit to studying God‘s word more regularly than normal, I believe you’ll be able to see farther than normal. It may just be a half step ahead of everyone else. But in the world that’s changing every day, faster than ever before, how valuable would it be to be able to see just a little bit into the future. Part of what I think Jesus meant when He said that we would do greater things was that we would be filled with His word and His spirit in a way that help is see just a half step ahead of the rest of the world.

Steps

Consider signing up for one of the annual one year Bible plans on this app. I promise if you sign up for and diligently follow one of these plans, you will see farther into the future this time next year.

Prayer

Lord, let me study your word as if it were my only source of light in a very dark world. Help me to read a little bit more of your word, and learn something new every single day. Then Lord let your word and your spirit living inside me be a light that shows me where you would have me go just a little sooner than I would’ve known before. In Jesus’ name. Amen.