Today’s Devotional – In Times of Uncertainty

Anytime I’m feeling stressed out, I roll up my sleeves and I organize. I straighten my desk, I clean up the pantry, I throw out old clothes… and if I’m really stressed out, I get into the drawers.

I’ve come to realize that it’s a matter of control. The more I lack it, the more I need it. If I don’t have control over my circumstances, I turn to those things that I can control like my paperwork, or my pantry.

Here’s the thing about life. We can’t rely on our strength alone. We’re powerless when it comes to our circumstances and the people around us.

The Bible says,

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” (James 4:13-15, NIV)

I don’t do well without a plan. It’s a weakness of mine, that I’m working hard to get through. I need details. They simplify things and give me the tools I need to create a plan. Without details I’m lost in the dark groping for some sense of surety and strength.

Uncertainty calls us to exercise patience, but even more than that, we learn what it means to be fully reliant on God. We discover that as powerful as we might deem ourselves to be, there are limits to our strength.

When you rely on yourself, you can only see as far as your capabilities will allow, which isn’t a whole lot when your circumstances are out of your control. But when you rely on the strength and the power of God, you step out of that box. You see that anything and everything is possible. You see that God has the power to soften a heart and open a door. You see that even the most hopeless situation isn’t that hopeless at all.

And so we must practice the act of letting go and letting God. Endure the growing pains that come with the maturing of our faith. Search for Him and only Him in that place of darkness and despair.

If we hope to grow and mature in our faith, we must willing to let go of ourselves as we become fully reliant on Him.

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Tilling the Soil

Read James Chapter 4.

Planting Hope

Now listen, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.” Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.” (James 4:13-15, NIV)

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