Let’s think for a few moments about all the learning disciplines we have in our world. We train others on what we have learned and what has been discovered in our world. This is called education, coming from two different Latin roots of the English word ‘education.’ They are ‘educare’ which means to train or to mold, and ‘educere’ meaning to lead out. However, there is so much we don’t know, and our world runs on as much unknown as it does the known.
I know this isn't as profound as it was to me recently when I stood in an ICU in a hospital looking at a relative who was hooked up to machines with tubes, sensors, and feeders. All this technology working its magic to help keep this relative alive. The known was he had all the best modern medicine working on him, the unknown is will it be of any help in the end. That is the way life is … we have the known and unknown living side by side in every aspect of our lives. We have the known ways to raise children, but the unknown is how will it turn out in making that child a successful person in character and purpose. As I enter my 40th year of marriage, and my 72nd birthday, I know what has worked for me to this point, but what about the unknown yet to come?
That is where faith plays such an important role in facing the unknown. Nothing you do can change the unknown no matter how you plan or how you structure your life. I have known people who have saved and invested all their lives only to die before they used all those resources in retirement. The unknowns are what they are … unknown.
God does know the unknowns because He lives in the past, present, and future. He is the only one who has perfect knowledge of everything that has happened or will happen. Therefore, pursuing a relationship of faith with Him is so beneficial to us. We trust that He will guide us into the land of the unknown and be the light on our path. There is no guarantee that the unknown will not affect us, but God will always see us to the other side of the unknown. Even if the unknown brings us to the moment of death, God will see us through it to the known element of His Kingdom.
Training in the unknown is a strange concept when put in these terms, yet that is what faith helps us do:
Hebrews 11:1 Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see.
Being trained to handle the unknown starts with faith in God. There is no other discipline on earth that can train you for the unknown like faith in God. The one thing we know for sure is that the world we now live in is full of unknowns. We do not know where our economy will go, we are told global warming will kill us all, and the next pandemic will be worse than the last. All unknowns … no matter what the prognosticators tell us.
Listening to the conversations around me and with me, all indicate there are more concerns about the unknowns today than ever before in my lifetime. However, for me at the end of the day, I know one thing that faith has taught me about the unknown is … God has it all under control. This is the bedrock statement for all unknowns … God sees it, knows it, and has it all under His control. Some people may say if He has this world under His control, do you think He could fix it? Of course, the answer to that is simple, "He will." First, this world must come to know that we cannot do life without God. Jesus quoted the Old Testament when He said, No! The Scriptures say:
Matthew 4:4 People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
Romans 1 tells us that God has given us over to our desires … this is what we are seeing in our society today. It will end, and God will make it all right. He will start by making all the unknowns known, all the hidden He will bring into the light, all the questions answered, and His Kingdom will begin and our world with all its unknowns will end. There are no surprises with God because His character has been the same from eternity past to eternity future … nothing changes with God. That is the first step in figuring out the unknowns in our world … it starts with training ourselves to know an unchanging God. Since He never changes, neither does His ability to show mercy, love, and forgiveness to us. He never changes His mind on the promises He made to us in Jesus Christ where everlasting life is given to those who believe in Him.
So, you see we train in what we know, but God trains us for the unknown by knowing Him. I love what I know, but I am even more in love with the unknowns, why? Because I know God is there, and that makes all unknowns known.
Challenging the Culture with Truth … Larry Kutzler