Finding Peace in Uncertainty

“You just never know.”

I can’t even begin to count how many times I’ve probably heard this phrase in 2020—arguably the most unpredictable, volatile and baffling year of our lives. What’s even more baffling, however, is how I’ve heard this same, simple phrase used so frequently in such completely different situations over the course of the year.

You just never know…who the American public will choose to be their next President.

You just never know…when you’ve been exposed to someone who doesn’t know they have the Coronavirus.

You just never know…what life will be like a year from now.

You just never know…who you might meet if you renew your dating app membership for another three months.

(Those Match.com “wait, don’t go!” deals sucker me in every time. But uh, like I said, totally different situations.)

You just never know. 

True. We can make educated guesses, but there’s no way to truly know what might happen in our day-to-day life—especially in the extreme circumstances our world is facing these days. And maybe saying this phrase while not knowing is comforting in that you are acknowledging that you don’t know…even if you’re not any closer to knowing. You know? (I don’t know.)

But here’s the thing about these unknown, “uncertain and unprecedented times”…

They’re not all that unprecedented.

You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.

Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold,  but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. Matthew 24:6-13

A global pandemic, economic strife, sudden catastrophes, racial turmoil, wildfires, violence, crises in the Church and political pandemonium… it’s pretty crazy stuff. Unprecedented in our lifetimes, certainly, but not totally unexpected.

In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
John 16:33

God tells us through his Word that we will go through troubles and pains in our lives. We know that we reside in a fallen world. We know that disease and war and death and hatred exist because of sin. We also know that God overcame the world by sending his Son to live, die, and triumph over sin for us through his resurrection. Of this, we can be certain.

Still, we often feel the need to insert that ever-present, ever-adrift platitude: you just never know. Why?

Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring. Proverbs 27:1

Here’s what I think. “You just never know” can be comforting, but only when immediately followed up with the certainty of our relationship with the One who does know. Only when we put these words into the context of the Word—God’s word, which tells us that we don’t know, but God does.

Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand. John 13:7

And the certainty of God should be comforting not only because he knows what tomorrow holds—but because we know that even today’s troubles he is using for our good.

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. Romans 8:28-29

Remember all of the miracles Jesus performed while walking on this earth? He performed so many faith-building wonders in the presence of his disciples and followers—miracles so that “the blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor” (Luke 7:22). In each of these situations, the miracle was not the thing to be worshiped. Rather, it was simply a testimony to the identity of Jesus—a sign meant to point to the Father’s glory. 

Jesus performed many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. John 20:30-31

Consider this, then: if God uses the good to teach us about his Son who would suffer, die, and rise again—surely he must also be using the bad. He used prophecy and miracles; so don’t you think he must also be using the troubles and pains of our world to indicate his glory? No matter how terrible or uncertain or chaotic our earthly circumstances become—why would we not seek the Lord’s face also in them? 

When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. 

Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future. Ecclesiastes 7:14

He uses hardship to point to our need for mercy. Uncertainty to point to our need for the Father’s assurance. Sickness to point to our need for God’s almighty healing and forgiveness of our sinful heart conditions. Death to point to our need for the new life and hope that only Jesus can give.

He uses troubles in an imperfect world to make us yearn for a perfect heaven.

This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 1 Peter 1:4-7

We know that we have a holy inheritance in the kingdom of God. We know that the grief we suffer through “all kinds of trials” is strengthening our faith and pruning us to bear much fruit. We know that in all things we are being prepared to be servants of God, to live for him on this earth until the day Jesus Christ is revealed. 

And, while we just never know when that day may be, we are consistently reminded through God’s word to be ready for that day. Notice Peter’s intentionality of words in the above passage. What do phrases like “until the coming” and “for a little while” and “result” have in common? Urgency.

Since no one knows the future, who can tell someone else what is to come? As no one has power over the wind to contain it, so no one has power over the time of their death. Ecclesiastes 8:7-8

Because you just never know…when it will be your time. 

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 1 Corinthians 4:17-18

Nearly a year ago, I wrote a post about my grandmother, my mom’s mom. About how my family and I cared for her and watched as her body slowly succumbed to cancer over the course of 15 months. We knew it was coming. We buried her on February 11, 2016.

Less than three weeks later, the Lord also took my grandfather to heaven. We did not know it was coming.

Grandpa—my dad’s dad—had been rear-ended just a couple weeks prior. He was incredibly healthy for an 89-year-old, showing no signs of slowing down. He wasn’t even in the hospital very long after the accident. Some internal bruising, but healthy enough for discharge within a few days. 

Then, I got the call that he had coded on the way to the hospital. I remember talking to my dad over the phone. He was sad, but even through his tears his voice emulated a peaceful confidence in God’s plan. “I think the accident was God’s way of saying, ‘I’m thinking about taking Dad home soon,’” I recall him saying. If it weren’t for the accident, my dad had explained, we might not all have reached out to Grandpa. We might not have had the chance to wish him well, to remind him that he is loved by the Lord, and to say goodbye—even if we didn’t know goodbye would be happening so soon.

Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well. Ecclesiastes 11:6

But that’s the thing. Even when we don’t know what to expect, God is shaping us. As we immerse ourselves in the word, we are reminded again and again of this world’s impermanence—and we are reminded of our heavenly citizenship. 

But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.
Philippians 3:20-21

And when we fail to immerse ourselves in the word and when we don’t seek the Lord’s face enough in circumstances we don’t understand and when we fall short of his glory… even still, God mercifully steps in and uses events in our lives to draw our eyes heavenward. (He really covers all his bases, huh?)

God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord. 1 Corinthians 1:28-31

God doesn’t leave us high and dry. He doesn’t waste pain. Not only does he stay with us as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, but he teaches us through it. He uses troubles as part of his work in building our faith and strengthening us as his servants. He uses trials to illuminate our weakness and his strength. Those storms of life that would otherwise knock us off our feet? Those are just opportunities to lean wholeheartedly on HIM. 

Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, the produce of the olive fail and the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold and there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God, the Lord, is my strength. Habakkuk 3:17-19

“You just never know.” There are so, so many people in the world today stuck in the one-dimensional mindset of this phrase. They acknowledge the uncertainty, but because they can neither explain nor control it, all they can do is stare into it—this black hole of fear, hopelessness, and death. Worse yet, for those with no hope in a Savior who died for them, no faith in a God who loves them… they choose to return to that black hole of darkness and allow it to dominate their lives.

Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light. Micah 7:8

But not us. Not God’s children, who see the uncertainty and chaos and death of this world and yet believe in the one who conquered it all. For us. 

“You just never know.” True. We don’t know what’s going to happen. And it’s not our job to know. It’s not our job to control. Even on our best day, we couldn’t handle either of these massive tasks. Rather, it is our job to trust in God—the only one who knows, controls, and ordains for our good. Why would we not wholeheartedly put our faith in the Lord who gave his own life to save us from the depth of sin?

Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1

Dear sisters, in a world of darkness, know that you are so beloved by the light of all mankind. It is the LORD who keeps our lamps burning bright and guides us to shine for him in the darkness, that others may see God’s glory and grace. Though storms may come, yet we can rejoice in the Lord; so take joy in the God of our salvation! Be glad in the certainty of our Savior! Do not worry about tomorrow, and do not fear. We may not know what will happen with this virus, with the next presidency, with the next relationship… But we have a firm relationship with the One who does know. So be strong and take heart, all you who hope, trust, and live in the LORD!

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. Hebrews 6:19