Most of our lives, we are dealing with the unknown. The times when everything is going our way and we expect it to last are rare. More often, we cannot anticipate what is coming. We don’t know what will happen with our health, our job, our family. The unknown feels like a threat, and the perception of threat stresses us out.
The Bible says, “We know all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.” The answer to dealing with the unknown is to love God. One would think that the way to deal with the unknown would be to know, to predict the future, to at least prepare for what might happen. The Bible’s wisdom is counterintuitive. We deal with the unknown by loving God.
Often we misunderstand what it means to love God. We confuse love for God with love for the good that comes from God’s hand. Then when adversity strikes, our faith goes away. Love for God is different than love for what God gives us.
Actually, loving God means loving God’s plan. And what is God’s plan? That we would be conformed to the image of his Son, Jesus Christ. That is the “good” that is mentioned in the verse, “all things work together for good.” We are called to expand our idea of what is good. Good health and prosperity and a happy family are all good, but so is adversity when it grows us into the person God made us to be.
In our sermon this Sunday we will talk about the pressure of the unknown.