July
27
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Certainly Uncertain
When I was a kid, I was certain I was going to be a teacher—until I became a graphic designer. When I was in high school, I was certain I would play basketball in college—until I became involved in the college’s theatre program. As an adult, I was certain I would move back home to Montana—until I permanently settled in Fargo-Moorhead. There were many things in life I was certain about—until life took me in another direction.
It is our natural inclination to want to know what’s coming next and there is nothing wrong with that. But sometimes certainty becomes so coveted that we look upon uncertainty as a bad thing. Uncertainty is a fact of life. And when it comes to putting our faith in God, we almost have to become OK with the fact that he might have plans for us that we never considered. Oswald Chambers says, “Certainty is the mark of the commonsense life—gracious uncertainty is the mark of the spiritual life.” And this should not cause us to sigh in sadness, but to have an expression of breathless expectation!
Uncertainty is not a bad thing. It frees us up to be open to what God has in mind for us. If you would have asked me 20 years ago if I would be a pastor, I would have told you that you were crazy. Yet here I am.
We don’t know what circumstances God will call us to. Our certainty rests only in our uncertainty of where God will place us and how God will use us. That can make us uncomfortable or thrill us to the bone, but either way, our only duty is to concentrate on our relationship with God. Through that relationship, we are promised that rivers of living water will flow from our lives and we will glorify God and fulfill our purpose. What a glorious certainty!
As Chambers says, a relationship with the living God ensures us a “life full of spontaneous, joyful uncertainty and expectancy. Leave everything to him and it will be gloriously and graciously uncertain how he will come in—but you can be certain that he will come. Remain faithful to him.”
Begin Human connection: We may be uncertain of the next step, but we can be certain of God.
I think this painting is an apt visual of uncertainty. Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog was painted by German artist Caspar David Friedrich, one of the leading painters of the Romantic movement. Friedrich often painted solitary figures in nature to explore themes of faith, mystery, and humanity’s relationship with God. A traveler stands on a rocky summit overlooking a landscape hidden beneath a sea of fog. He cannot see the path ahead, yet he stands with confidence, reminding us that while we cannot always see where life is leading, we can trust the One who does. Art historians call the figure seen from behind a Rückenfigur (German for “back-facing figure”). Friedrich intentionally painted the traveler with his back to us so viewers could imagine themselves standing in his place, looking into the unknown.
Featured art: Wanderer Above the Sea of Fog, Caspar David Friedrich, 1818
“…it has not yet been revealed what we shall be…” 1 John 3:2