We often take comfort in the known. We sleep easier when we know all the doors are locked, the bills are paid, food is in the pantry, and we have a job to wake up to. It’s the dimly lit areas of unknown that tend to rob us of peace and joy. Yet, more often than we like, ‘Unknown’ is where we live.
With all the many unknown variables we face in life that can rob us of sleep and happiness, the plans God has for us doesn’t have to be one of them. It’s often been called the questions of the ages:” What is God’s plan for me?” “What is the meaning of life?” “Surely, with all going on in the world, there’s got to be more than this“. How confusing it is, however, with all the voices directing us here and there and everywhere. And within each direction lays more and more unknown paths. For example, look for answers to the unknown in religion and you’ll have to choose which religion out of dozens (Christian, Islam, Buddhism, Hindu, New Age, etc.), of which there are even more subdivisions (Baptist, Methodist, Pentecostal, Greek Orthodox). Seek answers to the unknown issues of life in Psychology and you’ll discover over 200 different schools of thought, many of which contradict others.
Sadly, we discover that what brings us some comfort today doesn’t last long and soon we’re looking somewhere else for answers. Life is so much easier when we know where we are, what is going on, and what is coming up.
The book of Jeremiah has a verse that, if seriously considered, will change your whole outlook. In the New International Version, chapter 29:11a states “I know the plans I have for you…” We don’t know even what tomorrow holds much less the rest of our life, yet God Himself knows exactly what His plan for us is. If we can accept, by faith, that God has a specific plan and destiny for us, then that ‘fear of the unknown’ subsides and with that comes the blessed assurance all is well and good.
We don’t have built into us the natural ability to trust God unless He spells it out in detail and to the point we can truly see it and then believe it. It is our Adamic-nature to doubt, fret, worry, and to be skeptical. Our only hope of trusting life’s unknown to be in God’s Hands is to place our full faith and confidence in Jesus Christ and being born again. Paul wrote that “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17 KJV)”. Without faith, we can never hear how God knows His plans for us. And listening to religion, psychology, politicians, doctors, etc., isn’t at all equal to the Word of God.
Let us take comfort today and sleep in peace tonight. Jesus Christ paid it all and as a direct result of accepting His atonement, there is no unknown that isn’t known to Him.