We wait for the certain, the definite, the sure – the clear sign from heaven that demonstrates God’s direction beyond any doubt. But instead we are reminded of the God “who works for those who wait” (Isaiah 61:1-4).
What are we to make of the One who refrains from cosmic fireworks and from an exhibition of the divine presence for all to see? How are we to respond to this invitation to wait?
God grants us the promise of uncertainty, that in the midst of all our yearnings, we may learn to live by faith. In our post-Enlightenment world, in which recent claims of faster-than-light neutrino travel by physicists call into question some of our most basic scientific assumptions, we are a people who live day-to-day with the uncertain. Our temptation is to flee to the bedrock of the things we can see, taste and touch, to the people (few as it may be) on whom we are sure we can depend.
Instead, I believe, God invites us to trust, to step out into the unknown, to place into the Lord’s care our past, our present and our future.
Think of it: our fondest memories, our deepest present concern, our central anxiety, all placed into the hands of God. For us, uncertainty is a strange promise, but one I believe that truly leads “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)
What are we to make of the One who refrains from cosmic fireworks and from an exhibition of the divine presence for all to see? How are we to respond to this invitation to wait?
God grants us the promise of uncertainty, that in the midst of all our yearnings, we may learn to live by faith. In our post-Enlightenment world, in which recent claims of faster-than-light neutrino travel by physicists call into question some of our most basic scientific assumptions, we are a people who live day-to-day with the uncertain. Our temptation is to flee to the bedrock of the things we can see, taste and touch, to the people (few as it may be) on whom we are sure we can depend.
Instead, I believe, God invites us to trust, to step out into the unknown, to place into the Lord’s care our past, our present and our future.
Think of it: our fondest memories, our deepest present concern, our central anxiety, all placed into the hands of God. For us, uncertainty is a strange promise, but one I believe that truly leads “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” (Hebrews 11:1)
