Just this past weekend, we heard good teaching, and one thing was said that I really thought about.  If God takes something away, then he has something better for you.  “Is that true?” I almost thought out loud.  So…if he takes away certainty in life, then there must be something amazing in the not knowing.

​

Remember the story in the New Testament about Mary and the wedding, and how she ran out of wine?  She was uncertain how she was going to supply the needs of her guests, and then Jesus showed up and performed his first miracle!  The followers of Christ that were fishing ran into a huge storm.  They were uncertain if they were going to make it to shore, and again Jesus showed up and spoke peace to the winds and the waves.  More stories of good outcomes to uncertainty!

​

Something else I heard or read the other day said this, “What if something great happens today?” But most of us, with the uncertainty of life, often wonder what and worry about what might happen that’s awful.  It’s so hard, with uncertainty in the wind, to hear anything but whispers of the “what-ifs” with scary outcomes, instead of the idea that rings louder and more true – that God is working something great for you!

​

Now, back to my own thoughts of uncertainty.  I was thinking of vacation coming up.  I often have fear that something bad will happen to ruin it.  I also experience heightened fear during holidays, with loud whispers of what if someone dies.  And I don’t like these intrusive thoughts at all, but I’ve toyed with them so long they’ve become part of the fabric of my head space.  And the heart of the matter is that I want to be certain that my plans and my wishes and my hopes are fulfilled, because surely they are the best. 

​

However, everything I read in scripture screams loudly that God’s ways are best, he makes streams in the desert, sets us in secure places, gives the lonely housing and families, heals the brokenhearted, and lifts up those that are hanging their heads low.  He does not promise to tell us his secrets or his future for us, because our finite minds couldn’t handle it. 

​

Back to that statement that if God takes away something, he always has something better…what if we believed that?  What if those fears of losing and sorrow and tragedy are covered and swallowed up in the certainty that He will provide, protect and renew and replenish everything this tacky evil world robs from us? 

​

We can’t really handle certainty, which is what we wish for, because we don’t know the future or what’s best for any of us in any situation.  We really don’t.  But he does.  And while I wish he’d show me the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow before I take his hand and start walking toward the light…He just asks me to believe, assures me that He’s got me tight against his heart, and He heads forward to the beautiful life he’s creating for me and for all who believe…that “something great” that’s coming. Always.

​

I doubt that I won’t ever be frustrated with uncertainty again, but I will continue to train my mind with daily exercises to grab hold of this love that’s freely offered to me, one I can’t even comprehend or understand, but one that’s freely mine because Jesus loves me…this I know.  Just look at the rainbow…