Welcome to the year of our Lord 2016. As we face another New Year it would benefit Christians not to dwell on the uncertainty that seems to plague the current cultural landscape but turn our eyes instead toward Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith.
When there is uncertainty, uneasiness and fear often follow. We all long for certainty, but what do we mean by that?
There must be something beyond ourselves that we can lean upon that has the certainty that we crave. All that rests upon us, all that weight that desires to crush us, is far too much for us to handle. We must look outside of ourselves and every vice that we hold onto or use to cope, and recognize that they are merely the illusion of certainty. We must look to that One who holds all things in His hand and never lets go. The One Who is the only constant in a universe marked by change.
Let us look at some uncertainties facing us today. Wall Street has been volatile with stocks rising and falling on rumors and whims; nations are going bankrupt, U. S. cities are going bankrupt. The nation is almost 19 trillion dollars in debt and some economists are saying that the real debt (including mandated obligations) is closer to 65 trillion dollars. Try to calculate that in your head!
According to varying reports approximately 94 million people have quit looking for work in the U. S. These types of numbers have never been seen in our lifetime or the history of this nation. So the unemployment rate of 5% that Washington puts out is far from reality. These things affect us all on a day-to-day basis.
And now on the world stage, the Islamic State is ascendant. Al Qaida and the Taliban are reinventing themselves and committing new atrocities. Since 9/11 there have been over 27,500 deadly terror attacks around the world. Most of them we never heard about. All of them have been committed by those devoted to Islam.
Every five minutes a Christian is killed for their faith. In the Syrian refugee camps around the world Christians are hunted down day and night and either forcibly converted or killed, “even in their beds.”
The world’s population is in excess of 7 billion people. However, most of the world’s population are not Christians.
Over 64 percent of the world’s population are not Christians. They have not received Jesus as their Savior from God’s wrath against sin and from the confines of sin and death. Consequently, they will spend eternity away from the presence of God in hell.
As we enter the New Year of 2016, with all the volatility of the financial markets, the bad news of the world stage and the negative numbers regarding the eternal destiny of a large percentage of people in the world, these things can create very much uncertainty and deep feeling of being overwhelmed.
However, for a believer, you and I have certainty in the midst of it all.
Three major reminders as we face uncertain times. First of all: God Is Omnipotent. This is the point that gets me most pumped up as I read through the Scriptures. God is all-powerful and there is nothing that can stop His will from being carried out to the fullest. You and I can do nothing apart from Him and nothing can stop us if He is directing our lives no matter what the situation is.
I simply want to read some verses that are found throughout this great book and use it to grow our confidence in the Lord and to challenge us to know Him better and cling to Him in uncertain times. So please save these verses and then visit them later and allow God to minister to you through them.
In Job 42:2 we read; “I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.” In no way can God’s perfect will and plan be side-stepped, delayed or stopped by human cunning and frailties. What God has determined to do in eternity past will happen.
Genesis 18:4 a rhetorical question is asked, “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” Look at the spelling – all caps referring to the Uncreated Creator; the self-existent one.
The prophet Jeremiah in his warnings to Judah in Jeremiah 32:17, “Ah, LORD God! It is You who have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for You.”
And again he challenges us in Jeremiah 32:27, “Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for Me?” We are asked another rhetorical question from the uncreated Creator.
The prophet Zechariah relays this question to Judah and us, in Zechariah 8:6, “Thus says the LORD of hosts: If it is marvelous in the sight of the remnant of this people in these days, should it also be marvelous in My sight, declares the LORD of hosts?” The people are just coming back into the Promised Land after being in exile for 70 years and what looks miraculous in the eyes of men is pretty standard fare for God.
In the New Testament and the first gospel, Matthew 19:26 we are encouraged, “But Jesus looked at them and said, ‘With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’” This is reference to the Rich Young Ruler and response to a question by the disciples on who is able to make it to heaven. And the only certainty of making it to heaven is through Jesus Christ.
Gabriel’s message to Mary from the very mouth of God in Luke 1:37, “For nothing will be impossible with God!”
Secondly in the midst of uncertainty we must be reminded that God Is With Us. We know this is true from our Christmas story of Immanuel – God with us.
But it is also true in the here and now. Read again these very familiar words from Scripture to the church recorded in Matthew 28:19-20, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
We know this is true when we are praying in groups as Matthew 18:20 reminds us. “For where two or three are gathered in My name, there I am among them.” Right here and right now Jesus is with us in our midst and hears and sees what is going on.
John 12:26 Jesus says, “If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there will my servant be also. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.” He will be right there with us wherever we go as we represent Him.
In Jesus high priestly prayer He says: “Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given Me, may be with Me where I am, to see My glory that you have given Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” We may be with Him and He with us, what a great certainty in this uncertain world.
This was seen in the life of Paul as he was in prison in one of his journeys for Jesus. In Acts 18:10 we here this from our Savior to the ears of Paul: “For I am with you, and on one will attack you to harm you, for I have many in this city who are My people.”
Finally we must know that God Is For Us.
This point is based off of Romans 8:31; “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”
Even the OT tells us this truth, in Numbers 14:9 we read these words that sound much like the last point but is very good for us to hear. “Only do not rebel against the LORD. And do not fear the people of the land, for they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and the LORD is with us; do not fear them.” Why not fear them? Because God is for us, even in these uncertain times.
During the time of the prophet Elisha the Israelites were again going astray and the situation that was before them seemed impossible. It was a time when Syria was bearing down on Israel and the enemies army surrounded the city in which the prophet Elisha was residing. Elisha’s assistant saw the enemy’s army the next morning and was terrified and a wave of doom swept over him as he presented the information to the prophet. However, the prophet told his terrified assistant; “Do not be afraid, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (2 Kings 6:16). Then God opened the eyes of the scared assistant and he was able to take in the countless horses and chariots of fire that was all around Elisha. God makes certain what seems uncertain for those who are His.
Finally 1 John 4:4 “Greater is He that is in you, than he who is in the world.” The world is an uncertain place and truly a foreign land for the Christian or follower of Jesus. But God is our certainty and we long for a land that is beyond but until then we strive to become like Him and spread His word and hope in an uncertain world. He is our certainty and as we face this New Year let us go in the confidence of Jesus.