Uncertainty: the Birthplace of Trust

I often forget that while I am stuck in the middle of my own story, there is someone who stands above it, knowing beginning from end and everything in between. I wonder if we could really grasp this, how different our lives could be. The concept brings to mind a quote by author Margaret Attwood:

She states:
“When you are in the middle of a story it isn't a story at all, but only a confusion; a dark roaring, a blindness, a wreckage of shattered glass and splintered wood; like a house in a whirlwind, or else a boat crushed by the icebergs or swept over the rapids, and all aboard powerless to stop it. It's only afterwards that it becomes anything like a story at all. When you are telling it, to yourself or to someone else.”

I can so relate to the concept of wild, blind confusion where all the bits of life are swirling around with no apparent rhyme or reason. When things are not going to plan, it is easy to feel that our life is in chaos, that there is no rhythm or purpose or stability. It is easy, when uncertainty looms overhead, to think that these feelings are true. That we actually are lost and restless, tossing on a sea of random events. But is it true?

God tells us in His Word that He works all things together for good. He works His will in us and His purpose is revealed in all His dealings with His children. While we may feel as though things are out of control, they never actually are. We can relieve some of the discomfort of uncertainty by recognising that no matter how senseless the events seem right now, there is a time coming when we will look back and say, 'yes, I see the hand of God in that.' Life is hard. Sometimes we have to cling to that truth like a splintered board on a storm tossed sea. But this, I believe, is where we can learn to walk in the perfect peace of Christ. The peace that passes all understanding.

Uncertainty is the birthplace of trust in God, and as uncomfortable as it is (and as often as I keep saying it) it is an opportunity to deepen our intimacy with God and grow our endurance. A condition of want creates a space for God to fill. And He will. Chances are, that's exactly what He's trying to teach you.
Lean in. Hope. Someone is standing above it all.