"All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean..." -Ecclesiastes 9:2A.
Times of uncertainty will be present in every person's life, regardless of their relationship with Jesus Christ. We can see from our opening scripture that one event happens to all, and will happen to the righteous and the wicked alike. Job found out the hard way that walking perfectly with God was no guarantee against trouble; in fact, it made him a target for our enemy (Job 1:6-21).
And so if you are a Christian facing uncertain times in your life, you're in good company! The Bible says that, we are as "Fish caught in an evil net, snared in evil times that fall suddenly upon us" (Ecclesiastes 9:12). The devil will also try to isolate you, and make you feel alone, but these will only be more lies from the father of lies (John 8:44). The Bible tells us that temptations we face are COMMON to man (I Corinthians 10:13), that God will never leave us nor forsake us (Hebrews 13:5,6), and that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord;
"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." -Romans 8:38,39.
We can read a good bit about the uncertainty other God-fearing people faced in the Bible; David had already been anointed King, but the uncertainty he faced from Saul's trying to kill him, caused him to flee into the land of the Philistines, Israel's enemy (I Samuel 27:1).
When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were facing a furnace in Daniel 3:17,18, they were unsure if their God would save them, but they obeyed Him anyway.
Even the Apostle Paul shared uncertainties, by which we now take comfort in knowing that we are truly not alone in our struggles. In Philippians 2:23, Paul writes, "...so soon as I shall see how it will go with me," by which he indicates that he didn't know. In I Thessalonians 2:17 &18, he tells the Thessalonians how much he had tried to visit them, but Satan hindered the attempt. And in Philemon 22, Paul instructs Philemon to prepare a lodging for him, trusting that by Philemon's prayers he would be able to come; yet we KNOW this didn't happen, and Paul remained a prisoner at Rome. God simply hadn't shown Paul all of the path his future journey would take.
Remember that for now we only see in part, and know in part (I Corinthians 13:912), and Jesus promised His disciples that they would have tribulation in this world (John 16:33); but their peace would rest in Him, through His overcoming power. Part of this tribulation is the uncertainty which surrounds our lives, and James says well what our attitiudes should be in James 4:13-16;
"Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that." Bold type added for emphasis.
To say such things with sincerity reflects a life that is surrendered to God's will, even when the Lord's way is unknown to us. It also reflects well the prayer of our Savior in the Garden of Gethsemane just before His crucifiction, in which He says,
"...Father, if, thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done." -Luke 22:42.
God's relationship with us will be one in which we are growing into Christlike perfection;
it is a process that takes a lifetime, for we could not bear all of that change at once (John 16:12). God's ways are infinitely higher than our own (Isaiah 55:8,9), and we trust in Him who gave His Son to spare us from the wrath we deserved.
And 2 Corinthians 4:8 plainly tells us that we will be perplexed at times, but we won't be in despair. And still later on in that same chapter, we are simply reminded that we must keep our focus upon the eternal things, which we cannot see physically (2 Corinthians 4:16-18), for these temporary afflictions we now have shall quickly pass away, and they will work for us an eternal weight of glory we cannot lose.
In this world we won't always be rewarded, nor will we always immediately understand what God is trying to accomplish through us. But if we love our Lord Jesus, we'll do our best to follow His leading; no matter the cost, or the apparent outcome (John 7:24). Jesus told us that we should consider it in this way;
"So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do." -Luke 17:10.
Remember that we are laying up treasures in heaven (Matthew 6:19), which cannot be taken from us, and we should rejoice in the goodness the Lord has laid up for us, and we are saved by His grace, never by our own flawed works.
" Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." -Romans 8:33,34.
I have also posted a YouTube video on this subject. You can follow the link here https://youtu.be/DzaSLqkonLI
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