Today, the stock market will go up. Or, it will go down. It may remain the same, closing where it opened. No one knows for certain, first thing in the morning, where the market will stand during the day.
At the silliest end of those making sure-to-fail predictions we see those who think they “I’m going to win!” because a roulette wheel is going to hit the number they’ve picked or that dice will roll the way they’ve predicted.
It is important to consciously become aware of our own inability to make accurate predictions about the unpredictable. That helps us be led to the correct conclusion that God does know the future He has programmed and downloaded for each of us in The Creation Program. He knows that what’s best for us does not include thinking we know more than we do or that we can control what we cannot influence.
If we have faith, and utilize the gifts we’ve been given, we will do better in the days to come. That requires us to stop the kind of thinking that leads us to conclude that the numbers we’ve chosen for the lottery are going to magically appear because we want them to do so.
Several times, standing in line at grocery stores that have been turned into mini-casinos so the State can get more money from it’s most helplessly gullible citizens, I have been delayed. The check-out line comes to a dead stop because people in front of me are purchasing multiple lottery tickets with carefully thought-out number patterns. “What is the matter with him/her?”, we may ask in astonishment when we see someone, usually not prosperous, spending so much time, effort, and money to make him or herself inevitably poorer.
The vain desire for gain has overwritten the rational, analytical functioning of their mind’s operation. A deceptive virus, an error, has crept into their operating system. It has damaged their program by leading them to believe they can predict, or, more bizarrely, even control, the future.
When we recognize such destructive mistakes in others, we should seek out the smaller versions of them that live in our own minds. That lets us erase some of our own errors, restore our own programming ability, and get closer to accomplishing the unique duties that The Loving Programmer has programmed for each of us.
That’s a prediction any of us can make.
The Downside of a Correct Prediction
Sometimes, we think something is going to happen, and it does. That is a true test of how much vanity has taken over our being. Our natural tendency is to announce to as many people as possible, “I figured that the price of _______ stock was going up (down, or sideways), and purchased accordingly. I made a lot of money.”
What we are really saying (or, hearing from someone else) are the underlying thoughts: “I am so smart that I can predict the future. Don’t you wish you were that smart?”
When we are able to make a prediction that comes true for our benefit, we should give thanks to God for having brought it about. Making the choice to congratulate ourselves rather than be properly grateful to Him, one may predict, will not lead to continued success in predictions. Failing to be thankful for the blessings He programs for us separates us from Him. Then, we will inevitably make, and pay, for predictions that do not come to pass.
