Pastor's Corner

27 Jul
Screen Shot 2022 07 28 at 8.44.24 PM

Mid-Week Challenge

“Uncertainty,” that seems to be the word of the season we are in right now.  Gas is almost five dollars one day and then $3.50 a few days later.  Store shelves are empty one day and now I’m reading about the big box stores having to “slash prices” to eliminate inventory because they have too much in storage!?!?  And to make things even more uncertain, I didn’t win the Mega Millions last night.  How do we plan for the future when the future is so uncertain?  I like the way Jim Denison phrases the Christian response in uncertain times.  He asks, “Why should we trust God’s will in uncertain times?  This is a fact: the more uncertain the times, the more we need to trust God’s will. The more difficult the surgery, the more we need a skillful surgeon. The heavier the burden, the more we need a strong friend. However, it can be hard to trust God when it’s hard to trust God. That sounds like something Yogi Berra would say, but it’s true. The more difficult the times, the more we are tempted to blame God for them. And the more we are tempted to double down on ourselves.” 

I love the way he phrases that! The truth, as you know, is that we don’t know the future, we never have known the exact future so we must do all that we can in the moment and trust God for the things we cannot change or predict and not lean on our own understanding.  In difficult times we must realize that storms come to all of us, Christians or not. What results has to do with how we prepare and weather while in the process.  

In Matthew 7:24-27, Jesus tells the story of a wise man who built his house on solid rock (God's Word) rather than on shifting sand (our own understanding). As a result, his house withstood the storm, but the foolish man who built his house on sand lost everything. Remember, both men encountered the storm; one was prepared, the other was not. Adversity comes to all of us. We should expect storms, but we can only weather them successfully when we look to God for strength. 

Romans 5:3-4 tells us to "rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope." As Paul names those character traits we recognize them as ones we all want and admire in others. What we fail to realize is that according to what he is saying, we have to go through the suffering to develop these.  Are we willing to trust God in what He is doing?  Our situations might change but He does not. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8)

One thing is certain, God will hold us together even in the darkest and deepest storm of uncertainty as we trust Him.  Remember the promise in Philippians 1:6 - "He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ" 

"And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up." Galatians 6:9

Serving the Savior,

Bro. Jonathan

By: Dr. Johnathan Richerson

Comments (0)

    No one has commented on this page yet.

Leave a Comment

You cannot post comments until you have logged in. Login Here.