Freedom in uncertainty

I’ve been reading Wild at Heart by John Eldredge again for the third or fourth time and much of what I have written in this blog post has been inspired by this book.

If we succeed in our pursuit of control and security against all forms of risk, we will land up getting caught in a web of self-protection that will suffocate us of life and wonder why. Our souls’ thirst for adventure, the type that cannot be found when all elements of risk are accounted for.

“Naturally, we are inclined to be so mathematical and calculating that we look upon uncertainty as a bad thing…Certainty is the mark of the common-sense life. To be certain of God means that we are uncertain in all our ways, we do not know what a day may bring forth. This is generally said with a sigh of sadness; it should rather be an expression of breathless expectation.” – Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest.

I have spoken previously about our incessant need for the illusion of control and how we feel we need it in order to live our lives in comfort, safety and a sense of certainty. Its often ironic that the thing we think we need is actually the very thing we need to surrender. If we could have made an instruction manual for life, we would have made it by now, and we’d all be living dull, faithless and lifeless lives devoid of any meaning and significance. We’d have nothing to offer. We would not be able to live in breathless expectation.

So much of society tries to play it safe with certainty being sought after. There is no life there. We live in a time where mystery is despised, and the sense of control is seen as the ultimate goal to attain. What this does is it removes us from the very thing we are needing, a real relationship, dependence and conversation with God. If we have the element of control and are able to prefabricate a list of principles to live life by that give us this control, then why need God? With this pursuit of control there can be no room for vulnerability, no room for creativity and no room for life. How could we live a life of abundant joy where there is complete certainty in all things, it would become fruitless and mundane.

I think we often hold onto the illusion of control because we are afraid to face the many fears present in our lives, but by avoiding facing our fears we are avoiding life itself. “The price of our vitality is the sum of all our fears” – David Whyte.

There are no formulas with God and so there should be no formulas for us who follow him as we were created in his own image. How many times do we see God work in the same way in the Bible? We don’t because He never does things the same way. God brings 7 plagues into Egypt and parts the red sea for Moses to lead his people out of Egypt. Upon entering the promised land Joshua and the Israelites are told to march around the city of Jericho blowing trumpets for 7 days before bringing the walls down. He reduces Gideons army from thirty-two thousand to a measly three hundred before instructing them to use a bunch of torches and water pots to scare the enemy troops, and hilariously they succeed. Even recall the various ways Jesus heals the blind, he never does it the same way twice. He does this so that we have to depend on Him and so that He may receive the glory, which belongs to Him. So, we need to also recognize that God may not speak to us or lead us in the way we expect Him to or in the way He has in the past. We need to embrace uncertainty and rely on Him.

“There comes the baffling call of God in our lives also. The call of God can never be stated explicitly; it is implicit. The call of God is like the call of the sea, no one hears it but the one who has the nature of the sea in him. It cannot be stated definitely what the call of God is to because His call is to be in comradeship with Himself for His own purposes, and the test is to believe that God knows what He is after” – My Utmost for His Highest.

I feel most of us often misinterpret our lives and what God is doing in our lives. We often look at things from the wrong angle. How often do we try get God to make our lives easier? We’re often asking the wrong questions, “God why are you letting this happen to me?”. But to enter the journey of faith and maturation requires us to ask ourselves a different set of questions, “God, what are you trying to teach me here?”, “What do I need to learn?”, “What do I need to adjust, change, pursue or let go of?”.

It’s important for us to let go of all the ways we are desperately holding onto control in our lives and learn to live in faith and I think this is different for each one of us. We need to learn to face our fears. We also need to learn to be still, and quiet, so that we can hear Gods voice amongst all the noise and allow Him to lead us in the way forward.

“God does not give us overcoming life; He gives us life as we overcome.” –  My Utmost for His Highest.

When it comes to living and loving, true living and true loving, the requirement is the willingness for us to jump in with both feet and take life as it comes. I want the type of love and love for life that will cast out any fear. I want to learn to live and love recklessly without restraint because I believe perfect love drives out all fear. I want to surrender my control and live-in faith and obedience. Will this be obtainable and easy, no, I don’t think so, but that is the journey of sanctification. That is where life begins.

1 John 4:18 – “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”