Knowing the Ending
Generally, I don’t want to know how the plot ends. I like to watch the movie, read the book, or see the game and discover the outcome for myself. However, that changes when the conclusion really matters. It’s one thing to enjoy a story as it goes along and quite another to live through the unknown when the outcome seriously makes a difference.
Being a fan of the Texas Rangers, I have been watching the baseball playoffs. On Monday I realized that I didn’t like the television commentators, so I muted the sound and turned on the radio. It was quickly apparent that the radio was ahead of the video feed. I heard what was happening before I could see it. Somehow, that made it less stressful. When the bases were loaded in the bottom of the ninth and we didn’t score, I wasn’t too upset because I already knew what would happen before I saw it. When the bases were loaded again in the eleventh, what I heard told me that we would win with a home run. Great!
The same principle is true of hard circumstances. It’s the time of not-knowing, the period between the initiation and the outcome that is so difficult. Maybe that’s why God gives us advance notice of endings. Does he really do that?
It’s not that God tells us whether illness ends with health, whether the marriage will reignite, or how he will provide after a lay-off. He does tell us the spiritual outcome of our trials, however, giving us the hope needed to endure with faith.
Verses like these anchor my faith when I am in the time of not-knowing: “Such trials show the proven character of your faith, which is much more valuable than gold—gold that is tested by fire, even though it is passing away—and will bring praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed” (1 Pet. 1:7). “And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose, because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son” (Rom. 8:28-29a).
If I focus on what God is accomplishing in me and for his glory, I know the outcome before it happens. I can trust in the God who is able to bring about such results before I can see them, knowing that his voice is as certain as the radio broadcast of the game.
Let’s listen to God’s voice when we can’t see the endings.
How have you learned to focus on his words rather than the difficulties of the circumstances you face?
Kay Daigle
Kay is a life-long Texan whose favorites are Tex-Mex, books that feed her soul or make her think, good movies and travel to new places. Her great joy is to serve God by teaching the Bible and developing women as servant-leaders. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Beyond Ordinary Women Ministries, which provides free videos, podcasts and articles as well as low-cost Bible studies to prepare Christian women for leadership. (beyondordinarywomen.org) Kay spent ten years leading women’s ministries on church staffs, most recently at Northwest Bible Church in Dallas. Kay is the author of From Ordinary Woman to Spiritual Leader: Grow your Influence, a practical guide to help Christian women influence others by applying foundational leadership skills to their lives and ministries, and a number of Bible studies for women, some are available at bible.org and the newer ones are found at beyondordinarywomen.org. Kay earned an M.A.C.E. from Dallas Theological Seminary and a D.Min. from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary in Effective Ministries to Women. Kay’s family includes a husband, two grown children, one son-in-law, two hysterical granddaughters and a Goldendoodle.
2 Comments
Joseph Adam L.
2020 Vision of Doors-(deadlines)
2020 Vision of Doors-(deadlines) Jesus MUST pass through. I keep sending out feelers but nobody seems to bite ((( PLEASE,,, SOMEONE PROVE ME WRONG )))
We are the final generation, the generation that gets to see Christ return. Our generation started in 1967 when Israel took control of Jerusalem in 1967.5 as Daniel’s seventy weeks has to do with Jerusalem. THIS LAST GENERATION IS ALMOST OVER.
They all quote the verse (Mat 24:36) about no one knowing the day nor hour. I don't claim to know the day of His arrival. I know by Scripture that this cannot be done(Mat 25:13)= “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.” (Mat 13:32)= “But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father.”
I only want to point out that we are told There are doors that Jesus MUST pass through, (deadlines). Those who deny that the rapture will happen. Then why is Doors plural? Mentioned in Mathew 24:33.
I want to show everybody just how close this first door is. This is a date we are not only allowed to know but in the original Greek I hear that it is worded like a command, KNOW that it is NEAR, even at the DOORS.
We are the final generation, the one that gets to see Christ's return, as we are the ones meant in the verse (Mat 24:34) “this generation shall not pass” =(die). The first door of Mathew 24:33 is real soon. The rapture MUST happen before March 15, that is March 15 of this coming year,,,,,,
(links removed by Admin–please abide by rule of no self-promotion.)
Kay Daigle
RE: vision of doors
Joseph, I appreciate your concern for prophecy and the future. My concern was that people understand that their problems and troubles have foreseeable consequences when God holds the future. The trials may not be erased, but we can trust in what he is doing in our lives. Certainly, there is a future when the troubles of this life end. I was suggesting that we focus on the end being changes in our character to be more like Christ and his glory, not our own.