How to Live in Uncertainty

I don’t see a way out of this. How will this work out? When will this work out?

Sometimes change is slow and steady like the gradual erosion of near rivers. It takes years to see the marks and changes the erosion caused.

Other times change is forced upon you like a sudden storm. It becomes a turning point in your life. Nothing will ever be the same.

Then there are seasons of change. Seasons when you don’t know what to expect next. You know change is coming, but you don’t know exactly what it will look like.

For a while it is easy to live expectantly – watching for God to move. Then as the season of uncertainty lingers doubt sets in.

And there in the uncertainty and doubt we say things like:

“God is able, but I don’t see how He is going to make something good out of this…”

“I don’t see how this will change.”

“I trust God, but it is people I don’t trust.”

And uncertainty of circumstances captures our attention. With our eyes firmly focused on a situation we cannot control we lose sight of our God who is in control. Like a ship without an anchor our emotions roll up and down – certain one moment, freaking out the next.

So how do we do this life in the uncertain seasons, when we can’t see beyond the bend two steps away from us and we don’t even know when we will arrive at the intersection or what way to go?

We look to the One who is certain. “Fix your eyes on Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2) by meditating on His Word, His promises. Memorize scripture. Write it on note cards and plaster your computer, mirror, refrigerator, cubicle, office, dashboard with the truth.

Ask God for eyes to see Him moving in your daily life. Even in the uncertain seasons God is moving. Watch for Him to move like a “watchmen waits for morning.” (Psalm 130:6)

Remember what God has done in the Biblical past and in your personal past. (Psalm 105:1)

Pray as Jesus did, “…not my will but Yours.” (Luke 22:42)

Do not let your emotions or your heart decide your attitude or your direction. Remember “the heart is deceitful above all else and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

Pray with friends. Not to gossip or spread frustration over the uncertainty, but pray for God’s will and His glory.

In the uncertainty give God thanks. Thanks that He is in control (Jeremiah 32:27), that He has good plans (Jeremiah 29:11), and that He is able to do more than we ask or imagine. (Ephesians 3:20)

Once I move my eyes from the uncertain circumstances to the certain One things change inside me. My circumstances may remain uncertain, but my heart is secure in the One who is able, who has plans for me, and is in control.

What do you do when things around you are uncertain? Leave a comment.