Part 1 Undoing the Way We See Things Now
LESSON 194 I place the future in the Hands of God.
- Today’s idea takes another step toward quick Salvation, and a giant stride it is indeed! So great the distances that it encompasses, it sets you down just short of heaven, with the goal in sight and obstacles behind. Your foot has reached the lawns that welcome you to Heaven’s gate; the quiet place of peace, where you await with certainty the final step of God. How far are we progressing now from earth! How close are we approaching to our goal! How short the journey still to be pursued!
- Accept today’s idea, and you have passed anxiety, all pits of hell, all blackness of depression, thoughts of sin, and devastation brought about by guilt. Accept today’s idea, and you have released the world from all imprisonment by loosening the heavy chains that locked the door to freedom on it. You are saved, and your salvation thus becomes the gift you give the world, because you have received.
- In no one instant is depression felt, or pain experienced, or loss perceived. In no one instant sorrow can be set upon a throne and worshiped faithfully. In no one instant can one even die. And so each instant given unto God in passing, with the next one given Him already, is a time of your release from sadness, pain, and even death itself.
- God holds your future as He holds your past and present. They are one to Him, and so they should be one to you. Yet in this world, the temporal progression still seems real. And so you are not asked to understand the lack of sequence. You are but asked to let the future go and place it in God’s hands. And you will see by your experience that you have laid the past and present in His hands as well, because the past will punish you no more, and future dread will now be meaningless.
- Release the future. For the past is gone, and what is present, freed from its bequest of grief and misery, of pain and loss, becomes the instant in which time escapes the bondage of illusions where it runs its pitiless, inevitable course. Then is each instant which was slave to time transformed into a holy instant, when the light that was kept hidden in God’s Son is freed to bless the world. Now is he free, and all his glory shines upon a world made free with him, to share his holiness.
- If you can see the lesson for today as the deliverance it really is, you will not hesitate to give as much consistent effort as you can, to make it be a part of you. As it becomes a thought that rules your mind, a habit in your problem-solving repertoire, a way of quick reaction to temptation, you extend your learning to the world. And as you learn to see salvation in all things, so will the world perceive that it is saved.
- What worry can beset the one who gives his future to the loving Hands of God? What can he suffer? What can cause him pain or bring experience of loss to him? What can he fear? What can he regard except with love? For he who has escaped all fear of future pain has found his way to present peace, and certainty of care the world can never threaten. He is sure that his perception may be faulty but will never lack correction. He is free to choose again when he has been deceived; to change his mind when he has made mistakes.
- Place, then, your future in the Hands of God. For thus you called the memory of Him to come again, replacing all your thoughts of sin and evil with the truth of love. Think you the world could fail to gain thereby, and every living creature not respond with healed perception? Who entrusts himself to God has also placed the world within the Hands to which he has himself appealed for comfort and security. He lays aside the sick illusions of the world along with his and offers peace to both.
- Now are we saved indeed. For in God’s Hands we rest untroubled, sure that only good can come to us. If we forget, we will be gently reassured. If we accept an unforgiving thought, it will soon be replaced by love’s reflection. And if we are tempted to attack, we will appeal to Him Who guards our rest to make the choice for us that leaves temptation far behind. No longer is the world our enemy, for we have chosen that we be its Friend.[1]
Notes and Personal Application: Prior to accepting the truth about the world, I knew the future to be in God’s Hands, but it was in a fatalistic, negative way in that I saw no point in having any hope or doing anything meaningful in the world because “God” would blow on it and make it disappear. I hated the temporal world; it confused, frightened, and seemed to hold me captive to a form of flesh and blood which existed in a span of time only long enough to spawn, grow old, and die.
Knowing who and what I really am has changed all that! The future in God’s Hands is an incredible experience, one in which has eternal meaning and goes from glory to glory, expanding in joyful creation in every direction. My Heavenly Father, a God of Love and Happiness is not intent on extinguishing anything that has meaning to me, but rather replaces all my thoughts of unhappiness, woe, and sorrow with the truth of love, assurance, a promise and a blessing without end.
Today Jesus declares that only good can come to us when we stop interfering with the future and put our trust in God. He is not out to get us, trip us up, or teach us lessons of hate, fear, and torment. He is not out to embarrass us, wound us, or humble us. We are one with Christ, we are His Son, and God wants for us what we want for our children and grandchildren – to be loved, protected, happy, and surefooted, good, kind, sweet, and generous. With the future in God’s Hands, the world is no longer an enemy to fear, but a friend which comes along with us in a future entrusted to God, safe and comfortable, loving and kind. When we lay aside the lies of the world, no longer taking pleasure in its perversions and misadventures, closing our mind to its call to sorrow and misery, the world follows suit.
This is the sure way to salvation. Only good can come to us when we put our faith in God. No longer do we rely on the shaky, unstable systems of the world; no longer do we blame the president for our problems or give credit to the forms of the world for providing our needs. We have no need to worry if we change our minds about God and backslide into sin because if we forget, Jesus promises that we will be reminded. If we fall into unforgiving attitudes, the reflection of love will come to take root in us. Temptation to fight, to go to war, to blame and point fingers will all seem so stupid and silly in the light of His love, His peace, His joy.
Today every concern we may have about the future, we place in the Hands of God. My worries and concerns about growing old and being a burden on my family are placed in the loving Hands of God. My concerns about the cucumber leaves wilting on the vine – I put in the Hands of God. He knows how much I enjoy making pickles, sharing pickles, eating pickles. And His Will is for me to be happy – not to be worried about my cucumber crop! God knows how much I love and miss my family members. How I dread growing old without them in my life, talking and remembering things together, always coming up with fun things to do together. God’s Will is for me to be happy, not to be concerned about them never talking to me again or cherishing dishonest, unjust grudges from the past. I put all my loved ones in His Hands, forgiving the reasons why I built cases against them and the cases they built against me. God knows each and every desire of my heart. I put the future in His Hands. I do not have to worry about my energy levels, running out of speed, losing strength and courage, my goodness or my tendency to be selfish and egocentric, for I belong to Him.
Only good can come to us when the future is in God’s Hands. The world is no longer an enemy in which I must fear attack, but the world becomes friend when I place my future in the Hands of God.
[1] A Course in Miracles. Workbook for Students. Lesson 194. Foundation for Inner Peace, Second Edition (1992).
Audio credit: http://www.eckiefriar.com
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