And now, compelled by the Holy Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. (Acts 20:22, NIV)
Every time a golfer addresses the ball, they have an intended outcome in mind. The shot will stay in the fairway, be close to the pin, or go into the hole. The problem each golfer faces is what might happen after impact. The future remains unknown until the ball is struck. No matter how well any golfer has played, there is no way to remove all uncertainty.
How we address uncertainty in life’s big and small things speaks volumes about what we truly believe. How can we know what God wants us to do in any given situation? Should we depend entirely on our ingenuity to predict the future, or should we trust that God will work out whatever is troubling us?
Believers in Jesus serve a God that lives outside of time. We live in time, so the present is the only thing we can manage. We can’t change the past, and the future is uncertain as it largely depends on what we do in the present. How do we decide what to do to ensure the outcome we want? Our scripture for today speaks to this very thing.
Knowing full well that his future holds hardship, the apostle Paul says the Spirit compels him to go to Jerusalem without knowing what might happen there. Living with uncertainty about his future, nevertheless, he pressed on.
He doesn’t know what the future in Jerusalem holds, but he knows that the Holy Spirit is compelling him to go. As all the unknowns of the future closed in, he boldly followed the Holy Spirit’s direction.
Dealing with uncertainty involves, at a minimum, two choices. We can either trust God in the present to work out our future or try to help God by manipulating our current circumstances.
It primarily boils down to whom we have more faith in, ourselves, or his wise guidance. Do we trust God with our future, or do we trust in our maneuverings in the present to fend off the evil that might await us?
How we answer that question largely depends on our faith in God’s goodness. Faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. All of us hope for a good outcome in every circumstance. God has precisely that in mind for us, even though the outcome might be different than what we expected.
We can scramble and scheme in our strength, or we can confidently trust in the love of God to work out everything in our life for our good.
Trust Him, listen to the Holy Spirit, and move forward to the unknown future. He leads, we follow, and the peace of God will overcome our uncertainty.
Prayer: Father, thank you for controlling our future. Remind us that our present and future good are under your sovereign control.