by Phil Sanders

No doubt you will see on the grocery store checkout counters tabloids that will predict the events of the coming year.

I keep thinking I'll buy one and save it till December to see how much came true. It's not so much that I am fascinated by the predictions of the so-called seers and prophets. Rather, I know they have no ability at all.

Solomon said, "I again saw under the sun that the race is not to the swift and the battle is not to the warriors, and neither is bread to the wise nor wealth to the discerning nor favor to men of ability; for time and chance overtake them all. Moreover, man does not know his time: like fish caught in a treacherous net and birds trapped in a snare, so the sons of men are ensnared at an evil time when it suddenly falls on them" (Ecclesiastes 8:11,12).

Things don't always turn out the way they were planned or prophesied, when men do the prophesying.

Jean Dixon was a famous prognosticator in the 50s and 60s. She predicted who would be nominated and who would be elected President in the 1952, 1956 and 1960 elections. She missed every guess.

Jean Dixon is very unlike God, who never misses a prophecy. Isaiah wrote by inspiration in 46:8-10:

"Remember this, and be assured; Recall it to mind, you transgressors. Remember the former things long past, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things which have not been done, Saying, 'My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure.'"

Unlike the tabloids, the predictions of the Lord come to be true. We can have confidence in God because we know that he tells us the truth every time.

This is reassuring, for we know that his promises will also come true. I wouldn't want it any other way.