Still Uncertain
I’m still meditating on this notion of Uncertainty. I said in a podcast, titled Uncertainty Part 1, that this is a tool in God’s hand used for pruning us and making us more fruitful. But pruning sounds so nice. It actually means to cut or to cut back. Uncertainty can cut away at some well-hidden stuff within us.
I started thinking along these lines when I read that elements of uncertainty and the anxiety it produces were specifically designed into the process of selecting members of Delta Force. In other words, it wasn’t just the physical demands that had to be met, each hopeful candidate had to endure the mental and emotional torture of never knowing what was coming next, when he would be given a break, or if he was succeeding or failing.
My meditation around the concept of Uncertainty has brought me to a new perspective regarding God’s Word. For quite a while now Deuteronomy 8:3 has been a significant passage to me.
Take it in concert with what Hebrews 1:3 says about Jesus, that he is “upholding all things by the word of His power…” And John 6:63, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.”
Here’s how I’m handling my own season of Uncertainty:
Lord, my life is in your hands. I’ve given myself to you and I trust you to hold things together. I don’t understand it all right now. I’m not sure where I am in the whole “scheme of things,” but I know that my life does not consist of what I can see and hear and smell and touch and taste. My life is the word that you speak. You are holding things together, not me!
I’m going to keep talking about this at www.sfgpodcast.com but if you have your own comments or experiences, I’d love for you to post a comment here. Let’s build a dialogue and see how we end up helping each other.
Peace.
SJB
I started thinking along these lines when I read that elements of uncertainty and the anxiety it produces were specifically designed into the process of selecting members of Delta Force. In other words, it wasn’t just the physical demands that had to be met, each hopeful candidate had to endure the mental and emotional torture of never knowing what was coming next, when he would be given a break, or if he was succeeding or failing.
My meditation around the concept of Uncertainty has brought me to a new perspective regarding God’s Word. For quite a while now Deuteronomy 8:3 has been a significant passage to me.
[The Lord] humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD.What does it mean to live by “every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD?” I guess my interpretation of that has always been that God wants us to learn how to quote Scripture at the problems that afflict our lives. That’s what it seemed to me Jesus was doing in Luke chapter 4 when he used this verse against the temptation in the wilderness. Believe me, I still confess the Word of God and use it to encourage myself during times of struggle or temptation, but I think this verse means so much more.
Take it in concert with what Hebrews 1:3 says about Jesus, that he is “upholding all things by the word of His power…” And John 6:63, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.”
Here’s how I’m handling my own season of Uncertainty:
Lord, my life is in your hands. I’ve given myself to you and I trust you to hold things together. I don’t understand it all right now. I’m not sure where I am in the whole “scheme of things,” but I know that my life does not consist of what I can see and hear and smell and touch and taste. My life is the word that you speak. You are holding things together, not me!
I’m going to keep talking about this at www.sfgpodcast.com but if you have your own comments or experiences, I’d love for you to post a comment here. Let’s build a dialogue and see how we end up helping each other.
Peace.
SJB
Scott Bane
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Uncertainty is not all that it seems. Many times it is living hurried lives and when the Holy Spirit tries to speak we are not able to listen because we are distracted or we are too busy for God. My personality is a "Shaper" according to the Kendall Life Languages profile. I like to have a plan and work my plan. That's great except that it is not my plan that I need to work. It's Gods' plan. In the first part of my day I am trying - not gotten there yet- to give God time to speak to me and then allow for him to make adjustments. It has increased my joy and instead of striving I can enjoy "being." Jack Frost has a series entitled "From Slavery to Sonship" which is from Shiloh Place ministries. He explains that sometimes because we are so performance oriented we can't allow ourselves to be "being" oriented. Instead of the gnawing feeling of having to do it right, and do it according to so and so, I can relax in knowing that I am created to be a child of God and that others can learn to deal with their emotions when I blow up. It allows for more relaxing in the Fathers love and in that kind of atmosphere the Holy Spirit can minister and show me the flavors of wisdom that God has. Sometimes I need grace, and other times I need embraced, and other times I need correction, and so on. But, if I am so busy doing and not listening... then I become uncertain as to what I believe and who I am. A double minded man or woman is unstable in all their ways and I find that instead of flowing in the river of God's goodness and allowing goodness and mercy to follow me all of my days, If I am dogpaddling as fast as I can go, I am wearing out and going nowhere fast. I can be certain that He will never leave me or forsake me and that if I allow Him to grow me, He will.