I think most of us can agree that 2020 hasn’t really been the greatest year. With all the major events happening it seems like bad news just keeps piling up. But wouldn’t it be great if we knew about things before they happened? If God would just let us know how things will pan out it would really put us at ease…right?
Throughout the Bible, God very rarely gives more information then what is necessary. And sometimes it seems like he barely gives any information at all. Take the story of Abraham for instance. According to the Bible, seventy-five year old Abraham called “Abram” at this point was going through life when God spoke to him and told him to pick up his family and move out of the country that he had known and lived in his entire life. Where was he supposed to go? All he was told by God was “a land that I will show you.” I’m not sure it could get any less informative than that, yet this call to move came with great blessings and promises from God. After this commission from God all we read is that “Abram went as the Lord had told him.” We don’t read of any questions or doubts coming from Abraham, just simple obedience.
So many questions!
Imagine yourself in Abraham’s position, wouldn’t you have some questions? Maybe, where am I supposed to go? How long is the journey? What should I pack? What’s the itinerary? The list could go on and on! If we’re honest, we hate not being in control of our lives. We don’t like it very much when we can’t see the other side of our difficult circumstances. We need to know every detail so we know what to expect, and when that doesn’t happen, we tend to get frustrated and discouraged. As the apostle Paul puts it in 1 Cor. 13:12
“For now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror.”
This year has especially been full of events that we have never dealt with before. And for many, the bad news just keeps coming in a suffocating fashion. The outcome of many of our current circumstances is just simply, unknown.
I was recently surveying my year so far and wallowing in how much of a bummer it has been. As I was mentally running through the list of all the negative things that have come into my life this past year, I thought of the command given by Paul for us to give thanks in every circumstance. As I thought about how I could possibly give thanks for any of the things on my list, I began to see something really cool. I started to realize and be reminded that when I can’t see everything clearly, that’s when I can follow God more purely.
Pushed into deeper faith
Even though the circumstances in our lives are unpredictable and sometimes down right scary, they can push us if we allow them, farther into a truer and deeper faith in God. When we don’t have all the answers, all we can do is trust in Gods answers. When we can’t see the outcome, all we have to hold on to is Gods sovereignty. I began to see that uncertain circumstances are a golden opportunity to stake our faith in the great and precious promises of God. Speaking of Abraham, Romans 4:20 says
“No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God…but was fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised.”
By the time I was done assessing my bummer of a year, I found myself giving thanks and worshiping God for everything he has allowed in my life. For the sole reason that it caused me to trust in him so much more. If life were always easy, we would never fully put our trust in God. So when you find yourself surrounded by bad circumstances, use them to push you into the Fathers arms. We don’t need to know the future because we can rest in the fact that our God upholds the universe by the word of his power. (Heb. 1:3) We have no reason to fear, but every reason to have faith. In the words of the apostle Paul, who knew a thing or two about bad circumstances…
“For we walk by faith and not by sight.” 2 Cor. 5:7