(Deuteronomy 18) I know Who holds the future
(Translated by ChatGPT and modified by Mijiale
Adapted from http://mijiale.mypressonline.com/2021/08/08/439/)
My mother-in-law comes from a Christian family. I heard that when she was young, there was a time when she went out with a colleague. They saw a crowd gathering on the street and went to see what was happening. It turned out to be a fortune teller, and unexpectedly, the fortune teller said, ‘Are there any Christians here? Please step aside. I can’t make predictions when a Christian is nearby.’ Another time, someone took my mother-in-law’s birthdate to a fortune teller to have it predicted, but the fortune teller said he couldn’t predict a Christian’s fate. It turns out that the destiny of a Christian belongs to the Creator and is not subject to the laws of fortune telling.
Some people think that the Bible promotes superstition, but in fact, the Bible opposes superstition. In Deuteronomy, it says:
18:9 When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there.
18:10 Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft,
18:11 or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead.
18:12 Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you.
18:13 You must be blameless before the Lord your God.
18:14 The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practice sorcery or divination. But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so.
In addition to opposing fortune-telling, the Bible also opposes various forms of superstition. According to the commentator Rashi who understood the original text [1], the term ‘interprets omens’ (meonein) in Deut 18:10 can include choosing a ‘lucky time’, and the term ‘casts spells’ (menacheish) can include believing in ‘omens’, such as if bread falls out of the mouth, a deer runs by, a stick falls, and so on.
Make no mistake: the Bible is not against planning for the future properly:
* Cooking a meal requires estimating the number of guests, their appetites, and preferences.
* Traveling requires estimating the weather and road conditions.
* Investing retirement funds requires estimating future economic trends.
* Preaching in a new place requires knowing something about the audience.
Christians should be responsible for planning for the future. However, despite our careful planning, the Creator does not allow us to know everything about the future, nor does He allow us to have complete control over it. These limitations may be in order to teach us to trust in Him, to walk with Him and to work together with Him.
The Hebrew version of Deuteronomy 18:13,
תמים תהיה עם ה׳ אלוקיך, can be translated as:
“Be complete (tamim) with the Lord your God.” Even if you can’t fully ‘control’ the future, being ‘with’ Him makes you ‘complete’.
Trust Him completely. Whatever is beyond our control, is still in His control. Because the future is in His hand. This is somewhat like a line from a hymn: ‘I don’t know about tomorrow, but I know who holds the future, and I know who holds my hand. ‘https://hymnary.org/text/i_dont_know_about_tomorrow
Reference
[1] Pentateuch with Rashi’s commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann
https://www.sefaria.org/Rashi_on_Deuteronomy