Facing Times of Uncertainty

There was once a time I would have felt relatively confident giving you a forecast for the next year, or even for the next few years. But the past two years have reminded me we are truly powerless to dictate our circumstances. I have been reminded I cannot predict the future, and if I could, I wouldn’t have believed the future would include a global pandemic, riots and civil unrest, friends losing jobs, neighbors losing jobs, and schools shutting down. I have adjusted and readjusted my plans and expectations several times. And in all of this, maybe the worst part has been that we’re now undoubtedly aware of the volatile nature of the world. We could say we felt uncertain about the future, but I think this is true now more than any other time we can remember.   

We are uncertain about who we can count on, about what we can count on. Just about any headline would elicit a muttered “that sounds about right” as we move about our lives. We’ve started to feel numb when we hear someone else we care about has lost their career or had their plans completely derailed. This uncertainty has led to fear, and this fear has translated to tension in our lives, our homes, and our world. 

So the question is, “If all of this is true, then how do we live in light of it?”. How do we cope with the uncertainty that surrounds us?

God has given us instruction and examples precisely for times such as these. Jesus reassures us in Matthew 6 that He cares even for the birds, so how much more will he care for us. Paul wrote to the church in Philippi to encourage them to be anxious for nothing. The whole of scripture is rife with reassurance that we need not worry because God cares for us. 

The apostle Paul is the first person that I think of when I ponder how to live with uncertainty. There are several, but Paul is my favorite. He is credited with one of the most quoted scriptures, Philippians 4:12-13: “I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” 

I would imagine you have heard that passage, or at least part of it, but rarely is it quoted in the context in which Paul wrote it.  

Paul was once a well-off, well-positioned, and well-respected member of his community.  After his conversion on the road to Damascus, when Saul became Paul and began to zealously preach the gospel, his socio-economic status changed drastically. Paul dealt with a huge amount of unpredictable and uncertain time in his ministry. 

He accounts his own suffering:
“Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches,” (2 Corinthians 11:24-28).

And in all of this, he found that he truly could do all things through Christ who strengthened Him. It was the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the hope beyond hopes, that carried him through hardship. He knew that “to live is Christ, to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21, paraphrased). So no matter what he faced, he kept his eyes set on the things above and kept moving forward, going on mission for God. And we can do the same. We can be encouraged by Paul’s accounts of his suffering and trials. If he can keep his hope set on Christ drifting at sea, we can keep our hope set on Christ no matter what uncertainty we face. 

If we lose our careers or our plans are derailed completely, we have hope in Christ no matter what we face.