“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo.
“So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”
Frodo was looking at an uncertain future and he was scared. He didn’t know how his tale would unfold or if he would even live to see its completion.
Sometimes we can feel a lot like Frodo. While our futures don’t include Mt. Doom and Nazgûl, they can still seem rather uncertain. And when facing an uncertain future it’s only natural to be scared.
Yesterday I tweeted, “I sometimes think about someday planting a church and it freaks me out.” I got a lot of positive response and people confirming that the idea should indeed freak me out. I don’t know if God’s going to have me plant a church but even the thought of it freaks me out.
I feel like Frodo staring into an uncertain future and I’m scared.
No matter how uncertain our futures are, though, our God is always certain. One of the characteristics of God is that he is immutable, which is just a fancy way of saying he doesn’t change. Hebrews 13:8 says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
At one point our pasts were our uncertain futures. God guided us and provided for us even in those uncertain times. Now we can look back on God’s goodness, especially when we were facing uncertainty, and remember what he has done for us. And just like God provided and guided in the past, he is sure to do the same thing in the future, no matter how scary it is.
I don’t know if God is going to have me plant a church. The reality is none of us know with absolute certainty what God is going to do in our futures. Graciously, though, we may not know our futures but we can still know our God. And he is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Does the uncertainty of the future scare you? How do you deal with it?
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