When the Answer Is "I Don't Know" (Friday Devotional)

 

For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth.

- Job 19:25

As predicted by journalists and political analysts, we all woke up Wednesday morning uncertain who won the presidential election. After months of campaigning, gallons of ink spilled by prognosticators and pundits, and weeks of voting, the only honest answer to the question, “Who will be the president on January 20?” was, “I don’t know.”

At the same time, we remain in the middle of a pandemic which is once again surging throughout the nation. We all long for normalcy, we all wish we could go out in public without a face mask, we are all eagerly awaiting the announcement of a vaccine that will usher this virus out of the present and into the past. When will that day come? I don’t know.

More questions abound. How will these events affect the economy? What is all this unrest doing to our children? What is the path forward? I don’t know. I don’t know. I don’t know.

The only certainty, it seems, is uncertainty. Just as that feels true today, so it must have for Job, that famous biblical character who saw his wealth, health, and family taken away from him without warning. Having been prosperous, he was suddenly destitute; having been blessed, he was suddenly cursed. Everything he thought he could count on was here one minute and gone the next.

But when Job’s world was turned upside down and everything seemed uncertain, he turned to what he knew to be true: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth.” Even as his friends sought explanations for his turmoil and theorized solutions for his problems, Job looked with faith to the God who holds tomorrow. While Job’s future was uncertain, he knew God’s was not.

It’s a frustrating thing not to know the answers, to be unable to forecast or plan for the future. But in uncertain times God draws us away from earthly sureties and into eternal truths. So may today’s uncertainties not stir up your anxieties, but renew your faith.