By Hunter Greene
Do you know the exact time you will wake up tomorrow? 6 a.m. 8:30 a.m.? Maybe 10 a.m.? Do you know the exact outfit you will wear tomorrow? Shorts and a tee? Tennessee gear (May the Lord be with you)? Suit and tie? A fancy dress? This should be an easier question: Do you know what you are going to eat tomorrow? Pizza? Burgers? A Salad? A Pollo Loco from Amigos (a.k.a. manna from Heaven)? If you are like me, I have a hard time answering all three of these questions. I don’t really know what I will eat. I’m not completely sure what I will wear, and I definitely don’t know what time I will wake up, although I can assure you that it will certainly be late.
With all these unanswered questions in our lives, I find it ironic that we seem to have all the answers. We know what careers we want or what careers we will always be in. We know what our lives will look like in a year. We know what our kids are going to grow up to be. We know exactly what our futures will look like. Except we don’t. We may think we have it all together, and we may think we have it all figured out. Yet, in reality, we don’t know what the next five minutes will hold much less the next five years.
Therefore, Christians must learn how to trust in the God that is already in tomorrow. We have so many cares and so many burdens that weigh us down. We doubt God’s plan for our life as soon as things get the least bit uncomfortable. We whine and complain when things don’t go according to our plans and expectations. In many ways, we are exactly like the children of Israel.
As God was preparing the Israelites to enter the Promised Land and conquer the Canaanite cities such as Jericho and Ai, He told them in Joshua 1:9, “Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.” This verse may be in every high school yearbook across the country as many men and women in my generation believe God has bestowed divine favor upon them, and they will become rich and famous in just a few short years. However, what most do not realize about this verse is that God is encouraging them before war. God is reminding them that He will fight for them in times of uncertainty, but they have to keep trusting on Him. God is telling them that He will take them to the Promised Land, but they must follow Him. Why are the Israelites not to be afraid in their uncertain futures? Because they are the children of the Living God.
My question to you is this: why are you so afraid of an uncertain future when you are a child of the Living God? I realize that the walls of cancer that surround the city of death are intimidating. I understand that the armies of pain and suffering can overwhelm you in the heat of battle.
Maybe you are like Achan and believe the life and treasures you have built for yourself far exceed the life that God wants to give. Regardless of your reason why, I am aware that the future God is giving you, the place God is calling you to, and the person God is calling you to be are not easy to accept. But brothers and sisters, “Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.”
Your life may not be turning out like you thought it would, but you have to know that the God of the universe is on your side. If He is for you, then who can be against you? Don’t be scared to take that new job offer. Don’t be scared to buy that house. Don’t be scared to teach Sunday School or preach that first sermon. Don’t be scared to sing that song you love in church. When God calls you to your Promised Land and life’s future battles are more than you can handle, respond to God’s commands the same way the Israelites did in Joshua 1:16 by saying, “All that thou commandest us we will do, and whithersoever thou sendest us, we will go.”
Do not fear what you are supposed to be and where you are supposed to go and what you are supposed to do. Rather, fear not becoming what God has created you to be.
(The Solution Column is provided by Pastor Brandon Young of Harmony Free Will Baptist Church, Hampton, and his associate, Hunter Greene.)