On many occasions, the Scripture attests that our knowledge is not only limited but also doomed to remain so until the sound of the last trumpet is heard:

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” (1 Corinthians 15:51,52)

Referring to this astounding change, the apostle Paul writes (I am quoting here from J.B. Phillips New Testament):

At present we are men looking at puzzling reflections in a mirror. The time will come when we shall see reality whole and face to face! At present all I know is a little fraction of the truth, but the time will come when I shall know it as fully as God now knows me!” (1 Cor. 13:12)

The partial ignorance Paul refers to is not only related to great mysteries or very distant realities. It is also related to the nearest course of events, i.e., what is called ‘today’.

The author of Proverbs expresses it in these words:

Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring forth.” (Prov. 27:1)

The “day” referred to in this verse is obviously the one preceding tomorrow, i.e., what is called “today”. So the verse can be paraphrased as follows: “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what today may bring forth.”

James says the same thing. Writing to Christians, he admonishes a subgroup among them with these words:

Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.’ Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow” (James 4:13,14).

We don’t know what our life will be like tomorrow because we don’t know what today can bring forth. But strangely enough, we generally behave and speak as if we knew. This unjustified presumption can only misguide us, leading us not only to wrong conclusions but also to wrong courses of action.

Four ways in which our presumption is manifested

As we have already read, one of the ways our mistaken assumption is evinced is through our boasting about tomorrow (Prov. 27:1). Too often our mental behavior is, to some degree at least, reminiscent of the fool referred to in the gospel of Luke:

Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. ¹⁷ And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ ¹⁸ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. ¹⁹ And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ’ ²⁰ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’” (Luke 12:16–20)

This man was miscalculating his future, and he was miscalculating it because he thought he knew what the following years were going to bring forth when in reality he didn’t even know what the next night was about to generate: “‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you”.

Worrying

Another way in which our mistaken assumption is evinced is through our tendency to worry about tomorrow when Jesus is telling us not to do so (Matt. 6:34). The person who worries about tomorrow is assuming he knows what will happen today. But, as we have seen, it is not the case.

The shaping of a day

Likewise, our mistaken assumption is manifested through our inclination to mold today our expectation of tomorrow. Actually, we do it quite naturally and frequently. For instance, after hundreds of years of slavery in Egypt, the people of Israel were quite sure they were going to wake-up the next morning to serve as slaves. But the course of their history drastically changed in a single day: “And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years—on that very same day—it came to pass that all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt” (Exodus 12:41). What I am saying is that we don’t know for sure what might happen today, which means, we live with a constant vacuity in the sphere of knowledge in regards to our immediate future.

In like manner we often postpone to tomorrow what we should do today, as if we knew what tomorrow would be like. All these patterns exhibit an erroneous assumption which can be quite misleading at times.

What this vacuity implies

This void, in the realm of knowledge, entails that we cannot rehearse. Therefore, we must remain flexible and prepared for all sorts of possibilities. Nothing should be taken for granted. But happily, in the midst of all this, there is fantastic news: God has no vacuum in the realm of knowledge. He knows everything, including what a day may bring forth. Therefore, He can prepare us and guide us accordingly.

There are many verses stating the case clearly. Here are a few of them:

“O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.” (Jer. 10:23)

“A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.” (Proverbs 16:9)

“There are many plans in a man’s heart, nevertheless the Lord’s counsel—that will stand.” (Proverbs 19:21)

“A man’s steps are of the Lord; how then can a man understand his own way?” (Proverbs 20:24)

These sorts of verses should encourage us to seek the guidance of God in all aspects of life. Yes! He can reveal to us what we cannot foresee on our own. This is an expression of grace and of great lovingkindness.

What we should know about today

Whether the day is of ease or of adversity, it has been appointed by God.

In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity consider: Surely God has appointed the one as well as the other, so that man can find out nothing that will come after him.” (Ecclesiastes 7:14)

Whatever happens, God expects us to face the event with dignity, trusting in Him. After all, the grace God gives is proportionate to the need of the day. Of this, we can be assured.

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