One minute she was on top of the world as she was looking at the prospect of being a bride in less than 2 weeks. She was beginning a new job in just a few days. Life was wonderful! But then a whirlwind of events took place and the wedding was off, the relationship severed completely, the job promised her was given to someone else and she had already resigned her old job. In a matter of two days, what appeared to be smooth sailing had left her in a heap, crying in my arms, sobbing, "What will I do? Where will I go? I have nothing?"
Honestly, the words I could offer at that time were not going to help. In her mind, life was over. We know that it really isn't over, but I am quite certain that is how she saw things.
We've probably all been at a few crossroads in our lives where it seemed life as we knew it was over. When all of a sudden we are faced with the uncertain and unknown. Those unknowns of life can be quite scary and challenging. But... they can also be quite rewarding.
This morning I found myself thinking about this young woman and recalling how horrible life was for a season. I began to do some reading and I found myself reading from the seventh chapter of Genesis... the account of Noah and the ark, and God began to speak to me about all of us, facing the uncertain or the unknown.
I know this is a strange correlation, but stay with me.
Picture yourself for a moment as Noah or one of his family members who watched the animals all boarding the ark, and then you entered the ark and suddenly, the door is closed behind you. Notice that you did not close the door. The Bible says that God closed the door. And now you suddenly find yourself inside this big, box. You really don't have any idea what is going to happen next or even what the end result is going to be. God has not told you that. These people had no idea what was going to happen. Remember, up until this time, they have never seen rain before. They knew they could trust God, but something tells me that a bit of fear and doubt might have entered their minds about this time. They are filled with uncertainty and fear of the unknown. Suddenly they were trapped inside this giant box with a bunch of stinking animals and they had no control over their lives whatsoever. Again, they were trusting that God had a plan, but they had no clue what that plan was.
Can you imagine how they felt as the rain came and they felt the ark begin to float out of control; all the while hearing the screams from people they had known on the outside and there was nothing they could do to help them? I imagine that their time on the ark was a very busy time with all those animals to care for, still, I reckon their minds raced with questions of "What will we do now? Where will we go? What is going to happen?"
Their future was a vast unknown.
We all face unknowns. We wonder if the new job will work out, or if the old job is going to hold out. We wonder and fill our minds with "what ifs" and we can find ourselves slipping into doubts for our lives if we are not careful. Or, we can make the decision to know that God is in control and that He is guiding us in our present circumstances and situations too, and simply trust him and get on with life.
Life is filled with unknowns, but I submit to you that it does not have to be uncertain.
I may not know what tomorrow holds... but I am certain about who holds tomorrow.
I may not know how I will get there... but I do know that my God will get me to the place he has promised.
We need to rest in this fact: God has saved us for a reason... and it was not to sit and watch us fail or die on another day. We need to trust him that he knows what He wants to accomplish in our lives.
Remember, he shut the door on Noah and his family... but when it was time, He also opened the door to a whole new life.
He will do the same for us if we will trust Him and not try to kick open doors that He has closed.
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