As I write this, the November 5 election is less than 24 hours away. Our nation has been stirred into a tsunami of fear, anxiety, untruths, judgments, and criticism. So many exploding and simmering emotions. When the election is decided, it won’t be over. With every reason for anxiety comes a trail of consequences when it is over. Our emotions and world will be feeling the reverberations long after November 5.
In virtually all of life, we don’t know far more than we do know. For this reason, we spend a large part of our lives and resources preparing for things that may never happen: car insurance in case we crash, life insurance in case we die before our loved ones, smoke alarms in case there is a fire, and more. We just want to KNOW.
These plans are our best attempts to responsibly prepare for the future. But we plan and worry about the scary and troubling unknown. This desire to know is an old struggle. In a very real sense, Eve committed the first sin in a search for knowledge. She wanted to know things God hadn’t chosen to show her yet. Aren’t we all there sometimes? Knowledge feels like power, so we’re often anxious to even find out bad news. We feel like if we KNOW, we can do something.
The truth is history and personal experience show that God does His best work in our lives when we are waiting for answers He hasn’t given us yet. He doesn’t want us to wait in fear and stress about the future. He simply says that if we will trust in His timing and His work, He will make our hearts and spirits strong.
We are told, “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart, and wait for the Lord” (Psalm 27:14 NIV). Waiting and trusting God in the middle of uncertainty and the big unknown forces us to a new place. We choose to trust what we cannot see in order to have the ability to overcome the concerning things we can see.
Trusting God in uncertainty is only possible when we remain in the present moment. That’s a choice, and it’s a challenging choice to make. We are typically driven by our fears, so we dash into the future in our own power and wisdom. That never helps us. The helpful truth is that God was faithfully with us in the past. He will be faithful to be with us in the future. But this present moment is where we can truly experience the peace of His presence RIGHT NOW.
How do we experience His presence in the present uncertain time?
- Learn to recognize God and what He has for us in each divine moment He offers. First thing in the morning and throughout the entire day, affirm aloud that He is with you.
- Cultivate stillness where you make yourself available to Him to speak to you as you rest silently. Ask Him to help you hear His voice and view yourself, others, your surroundings, and the happenings in the world with hope and faith, through His eyes.
Whether navigating uncertainty in the world around me, or the personal uncertainty of a health, financial, or relational crisis, one thing is always true – uncertainty is uncomfortable. Uncertainty challenges us.
We all have ways of dealing with the uncertainty. Some ways are decidedly unhelpful, making things worse. Some are temporarily helpful giving a temporary respite, but the uncertainty always comes back. But the truth is that our attempts to forever control uncertainty are futile. The future cannot be nailed down.
But, in the midst of uncertainty, God offers us a place of confidence: “For I, the Lord your God, hold your right hand; it is I who say to you, “Fear not, I am the one who helps you” (Isaiah 41:13 ESV).