The future terrifies you because you can’t control it, predict it, or guarantee outcomes you desperately care about. You’re anxious about career decisions that will determine your financial stability, relationship choices that will affect your happiness, health issues that could derail everything, and a thousand other variables that might go wrong.
The uncertainty is crushing when you need clarity, when major decisions loom, when you’re watching the world become increasingly unstable and wondering what’s coming next. You want assurance that things will work out, but nobody can give you that guarantee.
What makes future anxiety particularly paralyzing is the combination of high stakes and zero certainty. The decisions you make today have consequences you’ll live with for years, but you don’t have enough information to make them confidently.
You’re supposed to trust God with your future, but that feels like relinquishing control of things too important to leave to chance. Meanwhile, worry about what might happen steals peace from what is happening, making you miserable in the present while obsessing about a future you can’t control anyway.
These verses speak to God’s sovereignty over the future, His plans for you, and how to live wisely when tomorrow is uncertain.
Bible Verses About The Future
1. Jeremiah 29:11 – For I Know the Plans I Have for You
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
New International Version (NIV)
2. Proverbs 19:21 – Many Are the Plans
Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.
New International Version (NIV)
3. Matthew 6:34 – Therefore Do Not Worry About Tomorrow
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.
New King James Version (NKJV)
4. James 4:13-15 – Now Listen, You Who Say
Look here, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit.” How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog—it’s here a little while, then it’s gone. What you ought to say is, “If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that.”
New Living Translation (NLT)
5. Proverbs 3:5-6 – Trust in the Lord with All Your Heart
Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.
New International Version (NIV)
6. Isaiah 46:10 – I Make Known the End
Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure.”
New King James Version (NKJV)
7. Psalm 37:23-24 – The Lord Directs the Steps
The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.
New Living Translation (NLT)
8. Proverbs 16:9 – In Their Hearts Humans Plan
In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.
New International Version (NIV)
9. Revelation 21:4 – And God Will Wipe Away Every Tear
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.
New King James Version (NKJV)
10. Philippians 3:13-14 – Brothers and Sisters, I Do Not Consider
No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
New Living Translation (NLT)
11. Ecclesiastes 3:1 – There Is a Time for Everything
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens.
New International Version (NIV)
12. Lamentations 3:22-23 – Through the Lord’s Mercies
Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.
New King James Version (NKJV)
13. Isaiah 43:18-19 – Forget the Former Things
But forget all that—it is nothing compared to what I am going to do. For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it?
New Living Translation (NLT)
14. Psalm 31:15 – My Times Are in Your Hands
My times are in your hands; deliver me from the hands of my enemies, from those who pursue me.
New International Version (NIV)
15. Proverbs 16:3 – Commit Your Works to the Lord
Commit your works to the Lord, and your thoughts will be established.
New King James Version (NKJV)
16. 1 Peter 5:7 – Give All Your Worries
Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.
New Living Translation (NLT)
17. Romans 8:28 – And We Know That in All Things
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
New International Version (NIV)
18. Psalm 139:16 – Your Eyes Saw My Substance
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.
New King James Version (NKJV)
19. Jeremiah 10:23 – Lord, I Know That People’s Lives
I know, Lord, that our lives are not our own. We are not able to plan our own course.
New Living Translation (NLT)
20. Isaiah 41:10 – So Do Not Fear
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
New International Version (NIV)
21. Psalm 118:24 – This Is the Day
This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
New King James Version (NKJV)
22. Hebrews 13:8 – Jesus Christ Is the Same
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
New Living Translation (NLT)
23. Luke 12:25-26 – Who of You by Worrying
Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?
New International Version (NIV)
24. Deuteronomy 31:8 – And the Lord, He Is the One
And the Lord, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.
New King James Version (NKJV)
25. Proverbs 27:1 – Do Not Boast About Tomorrow
Don’t brag about tomorrow, since you don’t know what the day will bring.
New Living Translation (NLT)
26. 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 – For Our Light and Momentary Troubles
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
New International Version (NIV)
27. Psalm 37:4-5 – Delight Yourself Also in the Lord
Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass.
New King James Version (NKJV)
28. Romans 15:13 – May the God of Hope
I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.
New Living Translation (NLT)
29. Philippians 1:6 – Being Confident of This
Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
New International Version (NIV)
30. Ecclesiastes 11:5 – As You Do Not Know the Path
As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.
New International Version (NIV)
31. Joshua 1:9 – Have I Not Commanded You?
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
New King James Version (NKJV)
32. Isaiah 26:3 – You Will Keep in Perfect Peace
You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
New Living Translation (NLT)
33. Hebrews 11:1 – Now Faith Is Confidence
Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.
New International Version (NIV)
34. Psalm 37:7 – Be Still Before the Lord
Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.
New King James Version (NKJV)
35. 1 Corinthians 2:9 – However, As It Is Written
That is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”
New Living Translation (NLT)
Our Thoughts On What the Bible Says About The Future
Scripture is clear that God knows the future completely, while you don’t and can’t. He declares the end from the beginning. Your days were written in His book before one of them came to be. His counsel will stand, and He will accomplish all His purposes. This isn’t about fatalism but about sovereignty. God has plans for you, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Your times are in His hands, which is either terrifying or comforting depending on whether you trust His character.
What’s liberating about the biblical approach to the future is that it frees you from the burden of having to control outcomes you can’t possibly control. You make plans, but the Lord establishes your steps. You commit your way to Him, and He directs your path. This doesn’t mean passivity or irresponsibility. You’re called to plan wisely, work diligently, and make good decisions. But you hold those plans loosely, recognizing that ultimately God is the one ordering your life according to His purposes.
The command not to worry about tomorrow isn’t naive optimism but practical wisdom. Worry adds nothing positive to your life and actively steals peace from the present. God’s mercies are new every morning, which means He provides grace for today. You don’t need grace now for challenges that may never come. Focus on today, trust God with tomorrow.
Say This Prayer
Father, I’m consumed with anxiety about the future, about decisions I need to make and outcomes I can’t control. I want guarantees You haven’t given and certainty that isn’t available this side of heaven. Help me to trust You with my future instead of trying to control it through worry and obsessive planning.
Thank You that You know my future completely, that my times are in Your hands, and that You have plans for me that are good. Help me to believe that Your plans are better than mine, that Your timing is perfect even when it doesn’t match my timeline, and that You work all things together for good for those who love You.
Teach me to focus on today, to be faithful with what’s in front of me right now, without borrowing trouble from tomorrow. Help me to make wise plans while holding them loosely, to work diligently while trusting You with results, and to commit my way to You, knowing You’ll direct my steps. Give me peace that comes from trusting You rather than from having all the answers.
In Jesus’ name, Amen.