Luke 1:1-4

If COVID has taught me anything, it is that uncertainty is an inevitable part of life. There is very little about our lives that is constant and certain. While we have some control over some things in life, we have no control over everything that happens to us. We could lose our job, our health, our loved ones, our savings without any warning. It is delusional to think we can come up with a masterplan that provides for all possible contingencies. 

We know this but still, it doesn’t stop us from trying though because uncertainty doesn’t sit well with most of us, even if some thrive in it. We crave for the control and security that comes with certainty. Our need for it is responsible for many of the choices we make and the priorities we have. It is what makes us averse to risks. Consequently, we end up choosing jobs and activities that are ‘safe’ and within our comfort zones. However, by doing so, we could well be missing out on opportunities to learn, grow, change and trust in God.

This doesn’t mean we throw planning out the window. Some decisions we make require certainty. Living from day to day, notwithstanding is the only option for some people, is not sustainable nor good for us. A prolonged period of fear, stress, anxiety and powerlessness due to the unknown will have an adverse impact on our health and our functioning. There is nothing wrong with taking control or responsibility for our lives and choices. Paul says each of us is to carry our own load but he also tells us to carry one another’s burdens and in doing so, we fulfill Christ’s requirements of us (Galatians 6:1-5). In other words, certainty and uncertainty have a role to play in the development of our lives.

But the one certainty that has the greatest impact on our lives, the one certainty we need in times of uncertainty that we must have and grow in, is our faith in God, which according to Andy Stanley, a pastor and Bible teacher, has to do with a person’s confidence in God, that He is who He says He is and that He will do what He has promised to do. Certainty in God is not about being able to work Him out but that God can be fully trusted even when we can’t work him out!

This is one of the overarching messages of the Gospel of Luke and the entire Bible for that matter! Luke wrote his Gospel so that Theophilus (and the church at large) who was facing and wrestling with lots of uncertainties as a young believer, may know the certainty, the truthfulness of everything he had been taught (1:4) about Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection so that he would have greater confidence that God can be trusted completely.

As we read and study the Gospel according to Luke, I pray that we will see God’s character in new and fresh ways so that our faith in Him will be strengthened, deepened and made more certain than before!

Have faith in God!
Mark Ng