Testament Tuesday –Into the Unknown

I read a quote recently that said this “We prefer the certainty of misery to the misery of uncertainty” –Virginia Satir. This hit me like a ton of bricks, because for me it’s very true. We as humans are inherently afraid of uncertainty and unknown. We live in this state of fear which then drives us to make our lives as predictable as they can be. We strive for predictable lives in order to have some sense of control on what happens next. But this sense of predictability and control is only an illusion, for we can never truly be in control of what happens next. And we aren’t meant to be! We aren’t meant to live predictable, boring lives no matter how much we want to. So why do we always lean more towards the certainty of misery, than uncertainty?? Why do we always do the things we know won’t benefit our lives at all (like worry or stress) instead of embracing the unknown?

Let’s recall the story in Mark chapter 1:16-18 when Jesus casually walks up to two brothers, Simon (aka Peter) and Andrew, and says “Come, follow me..” He was literally inviting them to leave their predictable lives, where they may have been miserable in stress or worry, to follow him. It was an invitation into the unknown. And they did it, “they left their nets at once and followed him.”

They dropped the certainty they had in throwing out their nets for fish, the predictability of the catch, and immediately went into the unknown with Jesus. Do you think they weren’t a little bit scared? Nervous of leaving the predictable routine they had built for themselves to step into uncertainty? I sure do. I’m sure that once they left, they thought to themselves “Oh my, what have we done? We don’t even know this man and yet we’ve dropped everything for him!”

But they did it. They stepped into a potential life of miserable uncertainty and it radically changed their lives. How many times do you think we’ve missed the opportunity to turn from our predictable lives into a new opportunity? Oh, I’m guessing a bunch… Because we want predictable, but we also want purpose. And I kind of think we can’t have both. I think we believe we know the path of our purpose in this life, but God throws in some twists and turns that we didn’t plan for. Living with purpose is never a straight path, it’s constantly changing and unfolding.

Those two brothers had no clue what they were stepping into, but God did. They had to make a choice, stay in their predictable secure life or leave it all to follow Him. They couldn’t take the security of their fishing nets with them, and we can’t take our securities either. We have to know deep down that whatever we cling to only gives us a false sense of security. The job we think we are “secure in” could end tomorrow. The home we take for granted every single day could be gone in an instant. We work tirelessly and miserably to make our lives predictable, but the truth is we will never be able to attain that.

How many days do we spend dwelling on the unknown of life only to miss out on the greatness around us? Think about this, both faith and fear require us to believe in something we can’t see. Seriously though. When we live in fear, we are clinging to this potential negative event that has yet to happen. When we live in faith, we are clinging to a potential positive event that has yet to happen. I know which one I would rather cling to..

We won’t ever be able to see into our futures, so why do we fear them? It’s time to refine our faith and see our futures in the positive light that God does. I know this isn’t easy, trust me I hate not knowing. I so desperately want to know all the things God has in store for me. But I choose to live in the uncertainty. I choose faith over fear. I adjust my attitude on what I can and cannot see to one of faith. We don’t need to be afraid of what comes next in our lives. We can’t live that way. We must choose, faith or fear. Both demand that we believe in things unseen, but only one allows you to follow Him.

Which will you choose, faith or fear?