We are going through many uncertainties at present whether it’s a personal niggling difficulty or something wider or a deeper life-changing issue. For many of us the uncertainties at church are even worse than that of the pandemic. Who can we trust? What will it look like? What will the outcome be? How can we move forward?
What about the pandemic uncertainties? When will it end? When will I be able to see my family again? What if I get Coronavirus or someone I love does? What if the virus mutates? Will the Roadmap get altered again? What will the new normal look like?
What do we do with our Uncertainties?
When life is uncertain, we feel out of control.
When things feel out of control, we all have a tendency to look to ourselves or other things in one way or another. So, as we react to these uncertainties take some time to think and pray that the Holy Spirit will point out the specifics of how we are responding:
- How exactly am I reacting?
- What exactly am I fearing or despairing over?
- What is my particular worry? What if…..
- What am I wanting in the uncertainty?
- What happens if it doesn’t work out the way I want it to?
- Is there something or someone else that I am really trusting in or relying on?
- We profess belief in God, but where is he in these situations?
- Is God even relevant in the details of my situation?
- Where is my faith in all of this?
- Where is God in all this uncertainty?
May be a better question is:
- Who is God in all this uncertainty?
- Do I fear God?
- What am I doing with Jesus?
- What am I struggling to believe or trust about Him in the specifics and details of this situation?
- Am I willing to choose to trust Him?
What does the Bible say about who God is, where He is and why I can trust Him?
The God of the Bible is the same God today. (“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” Hebrews 13:8)
There are many things we can be certain of. God gives us Himself. He is a personal God who knows each of us by name, our situation, our concerns and our personalities and listens to and answers our prayers even if it is different from the way I expect.
He is the same Good, Gracious Glorious and Faithful God, who is our Unchanging Certain Rock and our Fortress, our Great Provider and our Protector and at the same time a Gentle Shepherd who gives us Hope.
Our Foundation
As we weather the present storms where is our foundation as in the parable of the wise and foolish builder of Matthew 7:24-27? Is our foundation on the unchanging Rock or on the shifting sand of doing everything in our own strength? Do we even acknowledge that we might be building on the sand?
So, what is the Rock that is our foundation?
“The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.” Psalm 18:2
As the old hymn says:
“Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee”
Jesus is that Rock that was split and broken for me. Do we go to Him for our refuge and hide in Him or trust in our own strength?
He is totally trustworthy and unchanging amidst the shifting sand of our uncertainties and he understands our struggles because He has been through temptations and suffering himself.
“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathise with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:15-16
Just as God tested but provided and protected the Israelites in the wilderness; how much more will he do so for us now through Jesus in our own wilderness experience.
