What are you forecasting?

A friend of mine recently approached me with the common greeting, “How are you doing?” I had a lot on my mind at the time, so I almost answered him incorrectly.

What I almost said in response to my friend was what I was forecasting in my mind the challenges the next few days would likely bring. But I realized my friend wasn’t asking for a forecast of my future, but rather, was inquiring about how I was at the moment.

At that moment, I was doing fine.

We often mar the actual quality of our lives by defining our current reality on a forecast of what we expect the immediate future to be rather than by the truth of what today really holds for us.

“Forecasting” is a common way of approaching life that can either keep us on track or keep us skewed to irrational thinking. We habitually forecast all kinds of things from the weather or finances, to relationships and potential pitfalls. The problem with forecasting comes when we focus on forecasting our circumstances rather than forecasting our faith.

FORECASTING CIRCUMSTANCES …
Times are tough for many people. Today’s challenges are resulting in sky-high stress levels as people forecast how much worse tomorrow, the next day, and the next may be if things don’t improve. By focusing on a forecast of troubles, we become miserable today over something that may — or may not — occur.

One of the most famous examples of inappropriately forecasting circumstances is recorded in Numbers 13. God had heard the cries of the people of Israel in their slavery in Egypt and had sent Moses to lead them out to freedom in a Promised Land. Numbers 13:1-3 sets the stage for a failure of forecasting: “The Lord now said to Moses, ‘Send out men to explore the land of Canaan, the land I am giving to the Israelites. Send one leader from each of the twelve ancestral tribes.’ So Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He sent out twelve men, all tribal leaders of Israel, from their camp in the wilderness of Paran.”

So 12 men were selected to spy out the land God had chosen for Israel. Numbers 13:25-33 is the result of their reconnaissance of the land:

“After exploring the land for forty days, the men returned to Moses, Aaron, and the whole community of Israel at Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran. They reported to the whole community what they had seen and showed them the fruit they had taken from the land. This was their report to Moses: ‘We entered the land you sent us to explore, and it is indeed a bountiful country — a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is the kind of fruit it produces. But the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large and fortified. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak! The Amalekites live in the Negev, and the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country. The Canaanites live along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and along the Jordan Valley.’ But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses. ‘Let’s go at once to take the land,’ he said. ‘We can certainly conquer it!’ But the other men who had explored the land with him disagreed. ‘We can’t go up against them! They are stronger than we are!’ So they spread this bad report about the land among the Israelites: ‘The land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there. All the people we saw were huge. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!’”

God had delivered! He had set free His people from their captivity in Egypt and was ready to bless them with a land of plenty. Yet 10 of the 12 spies did some negative forecasting. They forecasted their future by focusing on the strength of their enemy rather than the strength of God. The result was a calamity for the people of Israel:

“Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘How long must I put up with this wicked community and its complaints about me? Yes, I have heard the complaints the Israelites are making against me. Now tell them this: “As surely as I live, declares the Lord, I will do to you the very things I heard you say. You will all drop dead in this wilderness! Because you complained against me, every one of you who is twenty years old or older and was included in the registration will die. You will not enter and occupy the land I swore to give you. The only exceptions will be Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun”‘.”

Forecasting on circumstances can rob you of the blessings God wants to bring into your life. Jesus addressed this issue in Matthew 6:31-34: “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.”

FORECASTING FAITH …
Of the 12 spies sent to check out the land, only two came back with a forecast of faith. After the negative forecast by the other 10 spies, the people griped against God and their leadership. In response, Caleb and Joshua stood to give the people an entirely different forecast:

“Then Moses and Aaron fell face down on the ground before the whole community of Israel. Two of the men who had explored the land, Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, tore their clothing. They said to all the people of Israel, ‘The land we traveled through and explored is a wonderful land! And if the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us safely into that land and give it to us. It is a rich land flowing with milk and honey. Do not rebel against the Lord, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land. They are only helpless prey to us! They have no protection, but the Lord is with us! Don’t be afraid of them!'” (Numbers 14:5-9).

It was this forecast of faith that provided Joshua and Caleb with a future when those who had a forecast of circumstance would perish in the wilderness.

In the same way, we impact our lives by what we forecast: whether by the fears of our circumstances, or the living out of our faith.

Hebrews 12:1-2a encourages a “faithful forecast” with these words: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith …”

What are you forecasting?

Scotty