The Blessing of the Unknowns
Reflections on how the unknowns draw us closer to God
I like knowing the future - having a sense of security and certainty about what lies ahead on this rollercoaster of life.
I like control.
The trouble is, control and certainty about the future are nothing more than illusions - figments of our imagination.
With every passing week, every new date jotted down in my journal, I realise just a little more how utterly dependent I am.
Does He not know best?
No matter how many 10-year plans we write out, how many goals we achieve, or how much we strive for a certain life story, the reality is that almost everything is out of our control.
Really the only things we have true control over is our response to the life story God has written for us.
We are responsible for our character and willingness to be moulded and shaped by the tools He chooses to use - whether or not they are pain-free, understandable, or what we perceive to be best.
As is written in Lamentations: “Who has spoken and it came to pass, unless the Lord has commanded it? Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that good and bad come? Why should a living man complain, a man, about the punishment of his sins?” (Lamentations 3:37-39)
He knows what we need.
He has written our life story and woven in character arcs and plot twists that we would never have chosen had He allowed us to take control.
And yet, His way is so much higher, more perfect and infinitely more glorious than what we would have imagined.
In our fear of the unknown, we attempt to drag the pen from His hands and rewrite our story under the ludicrous illusion that our way is really best.
All too often, we would settle for a pain-free fairy-tale rather than permitting Him to weave the epic saga of sin and redemption, pain and beauty, failure, forgiveness, and freedom that He writes through each moment of our lives.
Doesn’t He know best?
Driven from uncertainty to a certain God
One of the most powerful tools He uses to craft us into the people He created us to be is uncertainty - the unknown.
Charles Spurgeon wrote, "I have learned to kiss the wave that throws me against the Rock of Ages."
And most frequently, I have found this wave to be the uncertainty of the future.
Whether there will be restoration in a broken relationship.
Whether a lost loved one will realise their need for Christ and accept His offer of salvation before it’s too late.
Whether that special someone will come tomorrow, or in 10 years - or never.
Whether we will ever really understand or see the necessity of a crushing trial this side of heaven.
Although it may never feel like it, this unknown and uncertainty is a gift from our kind Father.
As is so beautifully written in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”
If we truly understood the path of our lives, if we never had to wrestle with the pain of uncertainty, we would never be driven into the deeper dependency and surrendered trust in God that is almost always only brought about through the pain.
An uncertain future casts us upon the Rock of a certain Saviour.
He is certain - His character, His love, His patience, and His salvation is certain.
And the unknowns drive us to a certain God.
Sovereign over all
“He who choreographs the stars in their courses is also in charge of the tiniest details of our lives,” wrote Elisabeth Elliot.
Nothing can change His sovereignty.
Perhaps nothing is as comforting as the fact that He - our Creator, Saviour and Friend - is intimately working His purposes in the minutiae of our life, bringing about our sanctification and eventual glorification with Him in Heaven.
Isaiah 45 is an eye-opening representation of who the Lord is - His sovereignty and omnipotence - and our smallness.
“I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things. Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit; let the earth cause them both to sprout; I the LORD have created it. Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has no handles’?”
(Isaiah 45:5-9)
God owns and oversees His creation to such a degree that nothing happens apart from His knowledge, apart from His will, apart from His wisdom.
There is nothing we are given that does not in some way pass through His hands.
Trust His Leading
Facing the unknowns is difficult and often painful.
But how immense is the comfort that comes from knowing our God holds us in His hands, ordains our future, and is working His purpose in every step of our lives.
The future is unknown to us, but not to Him and we should find much peace and rest in that knowledge.
He knows the plans He has for us - we are simply watching them unfold and are invited to join in the process as He grows our character, our trust, and our faithfulness.
Trust His leading, for He never leads astray.