The problems which we make for ourselves by an anxious forecasting of the future are not crosses which come from God. Let us not tempt Him by our false wisdom, trying to forestall His arrangements and to substitute our own providence for His. The fruit of our wisdom is always bitter; God permits this to confound us, when we break from His paternal guidance.
The future is not yet ours; perhaps it never shall be. If it does come, perhaps it will be quite different from what we have forecast. Let us close our eyes, then, to what God conceals from us, and holds in reserve for us in the treasure-house of His wisdom. Let us adore without seeing, let us be silent and rest tranquil.
WHY ALL PREDICTED EVENTS TURN OUT FULL OF PROBLEMS AND WORRIES IF THEY DO HAPPEN
The crosses of the present moment always bring with them their own special grace, and consequently their consolation. We are conscious that it is the Hand of God which makes itself felt in them.
But the crosses which spring from anxious forecasting of the future are seen to be out of God's order. We see them without having the grace to bear them; nay, we see them through a failing which turns aside grace.
Hence they appear harsh and unbearable; all is dark; we feel ourselves without resource; and the soul that wished, through curiosity, to taste the forbidden fruit, finds only death and revolt, with no consolation within itself.
This is the result of mistrusting God, and daring to violate His secret, which He guards jealously. 'Sufficient for the day is the evil thereof,' says Jesus Christ; and the evil of each day becomes a blessing when we submit to God's good pleasure. Let us, then, cast all our cares into the heart of so good a Father.
(Fr Fenelon)
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