Hello,
There are some people who say, “If only we knew what the future holds.” Then, there are others who say, “I am glad that I don’t know what the future holds, because then I might not want to go there.” Truthfully, I find myself most often in the second category. As I have lived life, I have discovered at least two things (hopefully more!). First, I have discovered how powerful the forces are that swirl around me. As we have all discovered these past months that even a tiny virus is so powerful that it can steal life from us. Second, I have discovered how small and weak I really am….as Rich Mullins says in a great song of his, “We’re not as strong as we think we are.” Boy, is that true.
My general thought about dealing with the future is to say that to know what it holds is far less important than to know who holds the future. “Lo, I am with you always,” said Jesus. No matter what is in store for the future, Jesus promises that he will be there. He will be there with his power and might that nothing can conquer, not even death. He will be there with his shepherding care, pulling us from the deepest and darkest ravines. He will be there with his forgiveness and mercy, healing the pain that we bring to ourselves and those around us. Whether the future is hard or smooth, Jesus will be there, and to me, knowing that is far more important than knowing what the future holds.
When I have said this to some people, they roll their eyes at me. Pious platitude. That is what they say my words are. They are words that sound really nice, but really don’t help out much when the future hits us like a Mack Truck. Pious platitude.
Would we say that a football offensive line averaging 350 lbs per person would be issuing a pious platitude to their running back when they say, “Follow us, we’ll get you through.”? Would we say that hitching four elephants to the frame of a car buried to its roof in mud, and saying, “We’ll get that car out,” is merely a pious platitude? Would we say that a massive ice-breaking ship with a small boat behind it would be offering a pious platitude when it says, “Stay close, and we’ll get you through this artic straight.”?
Does it not follow then, that when the one whose power and love is so great that out of nothing that one created everything….that when the one whose power and love is so great that in an atom that power resides….that when the one whose power and love is so great that when death has killed life, he has raised up life by killing death….doesn’t it not follow then, that when this one says, “I will be with you always,” to label that promise as a pious platitude is a severe mislabeling.
If a football offensive line’s words are words of solid hope….if a quartet of tugging elephants is a picture of certain victory….if a guiding ice-breaker is a force of certain passage…..well….then, when Jesus, the Son of God says to you and to me, “I am with you always,”, that is a word that pulls me into the future with confidence and courage.
I don’t know what the future holds, but Jesus promises you and me that the future is in his hands. Take heart.
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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