You Can Trust Your Future to God (1 Samuel 16:1-13)

“Close your eyes, and picture where you will live in five years,” the woman at the front of the classroom said. It was my last semester at my university, and this session put on by career services was supposed to provide the answers to all my questions about my future.

“Are you in a city or the country? When you leave your home, where are you going? How are you getting there?” The questions went on and on. But I didn’t see anything. It was not for lack of imagination; daydreaming has always been my specialty. I simply could not picture my future.

When we opened our eyes, the leader asked us what we had seen. Some saw themselves living in an apartment in New York City. Others had a suburban home and were off to an office job. I kept quiet.

After the session ended, I walked up to the front and asked the woman, “What does it mean if you can’t see anything?” She looked at me dumbfounded and said, “I have never had anyone not see anything.”

I was stricken. What was wrong with me? Why couldn’t I imagine my future? What would happen to me?

Worrying About the Future

Do you worry about the future? Jesus has a good word for you:

So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. Matthew 6:34

Samuel was a worrier. In 1 Samuel 16:1, God told him to go anoint a new king.

But Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears about it, he will kill me.” 1 Samuel 16:2

Thankfully, Samuel also deeply trusted God.

The Lord said, “Take a heifer with you and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what to do. You are to anoint for me the one I indicate.” Samuel did what the Lord said. 1 Samuel 16:3-4a

Because Samuel trusted God, he did what God said to do, even though he knew he was at risk, and he didn’t know exactly whom he was supposed to anoint.

God could have said, “Go anoint David, the youngest son of Jesse.” Instead he said “I am sending you to Jesse of Bethlehem. I have chosen one of his sons to be king.”

God gave Samuel just enough information for the next step. When Samuel faithfully acted on that, God gave Him the next piece of information just when he needed it. David was revealed as the next King, and the course of history was set.

You Can Trust Your Future to God

When you are a worrier, it is hard to be satisfied with “just the next step.” But God is a loving Father, and He gives exactly what we need, when we need it.

I look at my life now, and I think I can see why I could not picture anything. How could a young New Englander questioning everything, including God, possibly have envisioned a life in rural Texas as a conservative Christian homeschooling mama who loves to write about Scripture?

God gave me the next thing. Then the next, and then the next. And here I am, living a life filled with joy and love every single day!

You don’t have to know what is going to happen in five years. Ask God for today. He will guide you and grow you.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. Ephesians 2:10