“When you allow fear to subside in the light of God’s promises,
you are not denying your realities,
you are celebrating your certainties.”
–Arun S. Andrews
I recently came across this quote in a Twitter account I was following. I started thinking about how life can bring so much perplexing realities. In light of the various uncertainties that many are facing today—government shutdown and job furloughs, loss of property and loved ones through natural calamities—fear can easily set in and dominate life. How could one maintain a sense of balance and peace, even joy? Yet followers of Christ can manifest calm in the midst of the storms of life. And it is because of a steady confidence in the trustworthiness of God and his promises.
Consider the following declarations of one who trusts in God: “This is my comfort in my affliction, that your promise gives me life … Your promise is well tried, and your servant loves it” (Psalm 119.50, 140 ESV).
The psalmist orients his life toward the God who can be trusted and he faces life’s challenges with the promises of this God. They are his source of stability and joy in the midst of (not an escape from) affliction.
The apostle Paul reflects the same confidence in the promises of God, grounded in Christ as the firm assurance that God keeps his promises: “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him” (2 Corinthians 1.20 ESV).
Such confidence allows the believer to face challenging circumstances with courage—not necessarily because the problems will go away (though sometimes God would remove them), butbecause one is certain that God is good and God can be trusted to do what is best. One’s confidence is in God himself, not in the idea that problems will be resolved or removed. And since the unchanging God is the object of one’s trust, one can celebrate God’s certainties.
To the unbelieving world, such celebrating of certainties may be perceived as a denial of reality—that the challenges exist. But to trust in God is not to deny the realities of pain and suffering, but instead to recognize and embrace the greater reality of a good and wise God who is working out his good purposes in this world.
“And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12.1–2 NIV).
—Keith Y. Jainga