uncertainty

March 31, 2009

Uncertainty.


Yesterday I went to the Ear Doctor...he wouldn't like that title :)

First time to check out why I say, "what did you say?" in a crowded restaurant.

He came back after tests with papers in his hand and took a comfortable position (not a good sign, I surmised). Then a barrage of questions...and I wondered that the part with the white paper results was headed in the wrong direction.

Uncertainty.

Finally it was time for the test results
....and he gently landed me in the realm of needing to make up for high decible hearing loss.

Then he said: "Wow, aside from this you are a really healthy guy."

Ah such pleasing words. Certainty.

So I went from uncertainty about my hearing to a wonderful certainty about my overall health.


All of us have to deal with uncertainty...some of us many times each day.

Uncertainties....about health, about job, about relationships, about money about career choices, and on...

Every one of these categories have popped up in front of me in the last 24.


Makes me pause and think...that there must be some basic Bible ways to deal with uncertainties.

There are.

First one that comes to mind is: through choosing to exercise faith. Focusing our faith on what is certain and letting that spread its stability to everything else.
Like lingering on: "you sure are healthy"....instead of "about your hearing." But on a bigger and more strategic scale, it is in putting faith in what is certain and letting that certainty calm everything else down.
Like the only thing I have found that is certain is: God. Not job, not health, not intelligence, not relationships, not life. The only certainty, really, is God...His nature, His promises, His power.

Mayby that is why some of God's nicknames are: Forever Faithful, Rock and All Wise

Faith in God acts like an anchor does to a boat in a storm..."as an anchor to the soul." (Hebrews 6:19)

So, God, I may not have "enough" (I think) in the future, but I will always have You. And in my future, You will show me the way ahead....for You are the Way.

Another way
to deal with uncertainty is through getting hope in better focus.

Uncertainties bring a tension plague to us when we don't have real hope growing inside. Uncertainties tend to starve out hope...panic sets in...we live in an agitated state.

But when hope is alive, "well, in the end, everything is just all going to be all right." (See the beatitudes for a more complete sense of what I am saying here)

We live with our hearts set on what is called "a living hope."
A living hope means that in the end, as we walk with God, our future will work out just fine.

In very dark times I have let fear and uncertainty move me to the very end...the what if's becoming so final. But when hope is alive in us, even death doesn't kill us. It just translates us into the presence of God forever. Feeling uncertain these days? Set your hope on God.

Finally....
Uncertainties tend to pull us into ourselves....endless evaluations and negations....endless spiraling into self. Is there an escape....a way out?

There is.

Love breaks us out of self and surrounds us with others.

I'm not talking about loving feelings....but loving actions. Loving actions draw us closer and closer to people, fills up our spirits and prepares us for the world beyond.


Now, if you are really perceptive, you already are ahead of me. What are three important things to focus on when life seems quite uncertain?

Faith, hope and love.

The greatest three elements in the places where God is showing up.

So, may we, in the midst of today's uncertainties respond with passionate faith in God, a wise grasp of hope and future, and an extravagent love to those on our journey.

On Christ the Solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.

Standing with you...

David

Oh, by the way, the greatest of the three? Love. See I Corinthians 13.