What if God doesn’t do what you want him to do here? What if he doesn’t make this all work out the way you think it should work out? Really, what if he doesn’t … where does you faith stand then? Where will your joy be found if your idea of good isn’t how this unfolds?



God never called you and I to a life of certainty. He hasn’t empowered a single one of us to know or control what unfolds next. Here’s what we do know: We know Jesus said in John 16:33, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart, I have overcome the world!”



Your trouble will be overcome by Jesus. Now we don’t know when and we don’t know how, but we know somehow and someway Jesus is overcoming this trouble. But it won’t always look like it and it certainly won’t always feel like it. Faith requires you to accept that this may not go the way you want it to go. Faith requires a trust that reaches deeper than the circumstances and remembers there’s an eternity we have not seen.



Will Jesus heal the cancer? I know he can and I know he will … but what we don’t know is if it’s healed in this temporary earthly body or if it’s healed in the future eternal state of perfection. Both are healing, we just don’t know which one it will be.



Will Jesus save that marriage? Well, there’s a whole lot of human free will and choices involved in a thing like marriage. So honestly, I don’t know.



Will Jesus save your job? Will he clear the rain on your beach vacation? Will he give you that baby? Will he open the doors to your dreams? Will he bless you with wild success?



Answer: I have no idea! I know he can, but I can’t pretend to know his ways or his timing. In my earthly state, I can’t imagine the heavenly workings of all these details. And this is where we must quote Daniel 3: 18, “But even if he doesn’t …”



I know what God CAN do … he can do absolutely anything. Nothing is impossible with God. I know some of the things God has done, and those things are miraculous, indescribable, and unpredictable. And I know the end game, Jesus has already overcome every problem in the world … literally! Today’s problem will not be a problem forever. However, I have no way of knowing exactly what God is going to do with today’s problems and uncertainties.



How arrogant of us to assume we know the things only Heaven knows. God’s plans may be different than our desires. Faith requires us to live with open hands of surrender and find peace in the not knowing.



The truth is, I don’t know if I wake up tomorrow … neither do you. The truth is, we don’t know what could come falling out of the sky today. We don’t know what news the next phone call may bring. But not a single one of us have to be disturbed in the not knowing. We are called to live in a state of balance where we never doubt God’s ability, but also don’t assume to know God’s will.



Where is the trouble in your life? Really, think about the trouble you’re dealing with right now. It’s a trouble of uncertainty isn’t it? You don’t know if, you don’t know how and you don’t know when. Now, do you believe God really has the ability to change this trouble you’re facing? Can he heal this? Can he restore this? Can he stop this? Can he make it happen? YES. Absolutely! He can do it. This is not beyond his reach or outside of his power. Nor is it hidden from his eye. He sees and he knows.



Now, WHAT will he do? That we do not know.



My sister, can you make peace with simply not knowing.