The Destructive Power of Uncertainty

A television presenter recently interviewed a couple whose family was experiencing severe trials and she said, “Our thoughts and prayers are with you.”  It was the second time that I’ve heard this presenter use those words, but I have also heard her on another occasion express uncertainty about the existence of God.  A man on the radio told his listener something similar but added, “I hope God or Jesus, He or she or whatever, will hear.”  A little while ago a well known politician here said, “To the great God and Creator of us all, I thank Him – or her, as well.”  Doubting the certainty of God unleashes the destructive power of uncertainty into the life of the doubter.  

In conversation with a religious man one time, he was telling me about his fears and worries for the future and I said to him, “You don’t get any answers to your prayers do you?”  As he looked at me, I knew he wanted to deny that suggestion, but he said, “No, I don’t.”  I said the same thing to an old church-going lady and I got the same response.  I was not being judgmental in making those comments, it was the Holy Spirit Who put the words in my mouth and it was the beginnings of Him teaching me that this is the way it is for most people, church-goers or not.  I was learning that in spite of what people say, when they are up against it they do pray, but most of them don’t get answers.

When people’s prayers go unanswered, uncertainty in life then becomes the name of the game for them.  More than once I said to a person, young or old, “You’ve got a knot in your stomach, you feel as though you’re up against it and you can’t sleep at night, can you?” Few there were who denied it.  I discovered that everybody is looking for certainty in life, the solution or the breakthrough to sustained happiness.  I also discovered that most people go to their graves without finding it.  Lack of concrete answers, plus the inability to create solutions to problems not only brings uncertainty upon people it makes them fearful and creates discontent within … always restless, always wanting, always looking – never satisfied.

Let’s have a look at some of the substitutes people create in their attempts to overcome the destructive power of uncertainty in their lives: a change of home or country or job, a change of wife/husband, regular overseas holidays, buy a new car, new TV, computer or mobile phone, spend all day at the shopping center, buy some new clothes, get a personal fitness trainer, join a social club, study astrology, attend every horse race meeting and sporting event, spend all day at the pokies, spend all day on Facebook and other social media forums, spend all day in front of the TV watching the soap operas and gourmet cooking/food programs, read the newspapers and glossy magazines from front to back, smoke dope, drink booze, get married, get divorced.

There is some sense of feeling good or happy and in control when engaging in those things, but the reality is when it’s all over it doesn’t last … it fails to bring them the certainty they seek.  It doesn’t make a scrap of difference to their problems; there’s no change leaving them no better off.  Nevertheless, people continue to engage in this sort of stuff day in day out, week in week out, year in year out … wishing and hoping for something better to show up.  If I was fortunate enough to sit and talk with people about their life’s practices I was able to show them on paper their life’s pattern over ten, twenty or even fifty years – a pattern of nothingness really, and the honest ones among them were quick to acknowledge the truth of that.

The same applies to their political leaders.  One says, “vote for me,” another one says, “vote for me.”  Both parties seduce voters with promises that can never be fulfilled and the people vote for them as though their promises are already fulfilled … many voters even coming to the defense of the greatest liars, swindlers and deceivers among them.  Why? When most people make some sort of attempt to pray to God but continue to get no answers, they become deluded, desperate, duped and dependent upon others for life’s certainties – especially governments! When highlighting this, people were willing to acknowledge governments add to, rather than remove the destructive power of uncertainty from their lives.

So why is it that when most people pray to God they don’t get any answers? Lots of reasons … they won’t acknowledge the One True God Who reveals Himself to them in the Bible, they won’t acknowledge the Bible as being the sole word of God to them, they won’t acknowledge sin in their lives, they won’t acknowledge their need for a Savior, they won’t acknowledge their need for Christ’s Lordship over their lives.  They will set up religious substitutes of some kind, but they will do everything they can to avoid truth and reality no matter the cost to them.  In other words, they reject all certainty on offer from God and by default come under the destructive power of uncertainty from Satan, whether they acknowledge his reality or not and most don’t.

So what is Sin?  Picture yourself about to eat a lovely big red, shiny apple.  It looks great – whiter than white crisp flesh – tastes great. Everything about it is great … until you bite on and discover a big black rotting part at the core with a live bug squirming away there. Essentially, people present themselves in life just like that apple – working overtime at looking great, being great, doing great, but knowing things are not at all great because everything is far from great on the inside.  What’s on the inside?  Sin.  That’s what God calls it and that’s why He tells us we are rotten on the inside at the very core of our being.  Is it any wonder people are restless?  They have something squirming within eating them up.

What’s the solution for them then?  There is none.  They’re on their own.  Continued failure to acknowledge the certainties of God from God, places them into the category of the lost (destroy, die, lose, mar, perish), never to be found Matthew 18:11; John 3:16.  Somebody reading this post says, “How harsh!  Where is your compassion? Where is your love?  How cruel you are … how cruel your God.”  Guess what?  A person under the destructive power of uncertainty is never capable of rising above anything better than comments and questions such as these, sad to say.  And when it comes to expressing true love and compassion, that’s foreign to them as well .  You see, such attributes are God-given, not self-given.

God tells us in Old Testament Isaiah 5:13 and Hosea 4:6 that His people of those times went into captivity and were destroyed because they have no knowledge … destroyed for lack of knowledge.  It is not that they were ignorant of the certainties of God, but rather, they chose to reject them.  As a result, God chose to reject them. In the New Testament Jesus tells us much the same thing, “…….he who rejects you rejects Me, and he who rejects Me rejects Him (God the Father) who sent Me” Luke 10:16.  People often say they have not rejected Jesus, but the reality is, if they are not with Him then they are against Him Matthew 12:30.  As John Wesley said, “….either a loyal subject or a rebel.”

The greatest Sin we are born with is ‘rebellion’.  This is a nature that thinks and does wrong before right.  It’s the human nature.  We see this in very young children … tell a young child, “come here” and he will turn from you and ‘go there.’  The same applies to “do that” or “don’t do that.”  Whatever you tell them, they’ll do the opposite. Sometimes it’s cute to watch in a small child, but when the child grows up still doing those things, he’s headed for trouble.  Eventually his motto becomes, “Nobody tells me what to do!”  Rebellion is the greatest problem we and God have … that’s why He calls it Sin … that’s why His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ came into the world.  He took our sin of rebellion upon Himself and died for it so we could be set free from it.

The last 3 lines of the above paragraph sum up the message of the Bible really – the problem and the solution.  Deny the problem and there’s no solution!  Something else.  It’s fashionable today for the sophisticated and the intelligentsia to say there are no absolutes, no right or wrong, no good or bad.  Karl Marx and his crowd came up with that – not that many of these people have studied his works, they just mouth off what they hear from others.  What a disaster it turned out to be for Marx … he destroyed his wife, his family and himself.  Once he made the decision to refuse to acknowledge the certainties of God, God cursed him … and his family got caught up in that curse.  Karl Marx was the ultimate fool Psalm 14:1.

The Bible is saturated with the certainties of God. That’s why He’s given us that book. It is also saturated with certainties guaranteed to come our way based on the choices we make in life: obedience or disobedience, truth or lies, peace or turmoil, right or wrong, good or evil, light or darkness, freedom or bondage, blessings or cursings, health or sickness, judgment or acquittal, life or death, heaven or hell, Jesus or Satan.  Speaking of Jesus, He said there is no way for any of us to get to God unless we come through Him John 14:6.  Jesus was very certain of that!  No other man of sound mind has ever said such a thing.  That is why He’s the Savior of the world … God would not give us the time of day otherwise.

A quick glance into the gospels shows us that the Lord Jesus used no other language but the language of certainty.  Depending on what translation of the Bible you have, you’ll see … ‘verily, verily I say unto you’ – ‘most assuredly I say to you’ – ‘I say to you’ – ‘truly I say to you’ – ‘for I say unto you’ – ‘but I say to you’ – ‘solemnly I tell you’ – ‘I assure you’ – ‘but I tell you’ – ‘I can guarantee this’ – ‘but I promise you’ – ‘I tell you with certainty’ … and not once do we see Him backtracking on any of His statements; not once do we read of Him using the language of uncertainty … I hope so, I think so, maybe, might be, could be – and the ‘uncertain’ crowd hated Him for it just as they do today.

Regardless of who says what, Sin is a reality and it separates us from God Psalm 66.18; Isaiah 59:1-2; John 9:31. The penalty for sin is death – eternal punishment.  That’s not what God wants for anyone.  That is why He tells us that the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord Romans 6:23.  Salvation is a gift from God.  What person in their right mind would knock back such a gift? Nobody!  You see, a person who lives under the destructive power of uncertainty is not in his right mind … he’s out of his mind! “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him Hebrews 11:6.