You Asked For It: How Should I Deal With An Uncertain Future?

“My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand” – John 10:27-29.

The question this week in the You Asked For It series was “How To Keep From Stressing Out.” It would have been just as easy to ask “How to keep from stressing out due to an uncertain future. We are living in a time when it is hard to predict what will happen today let alone in the weeks and months ahead. You thought you knew where your life was heading. Things seemed to be falling into place and then bang, doors which you thought were open suddenly slammed in your face. You step back, a little bewildered. You wonder if that really just happened. And even more importantly, you wonder what do I do now? Where should I go?

Life moves at a much faster clip than it did a hundred years ago. So amidst that frenetic pace, we as Christ-followers try to live in such a way that we experience God’s peace, joy and love. Our principal goal is to try and bring some clarity to the future. Or in other words, find a way to bring the future into focus. We want to plan the future as a means of hopefully controlling or at least minimizing the uncertainty.

We don’t need clarity. We need trust in God. Psalm 46:10 says, “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations,I will be exalted in the earth!”

Outside of money, I think the most difficult thing to trust God with is our future. But that is exactly what we should do because our future isn’t really our future. But the truth is, I think most of us know we can trust God but we have a really hard time doing it. Especially when we are stressed and the future looks bleak. But let me give you a possible reason. Some of us have a hard time trusting God because we don’t know Him well. Most of us would probably be a little offended because we believe we do know Him well. I spend time with Him, I read His word, I pray, I attend church and Northstar Groups.

But sometimes when life is uncertain, I know I can trust God, but I still have a hard time doing it. So it begs the question: do I truly know God, that I have full confidence in who He is and what He will do in my life. Because only when you fully understand His great love for you, His unending grace, His faithfulness to you, and His plans for you that you will be able to trust Him no matter what comes your way. To trust Him for where that road will take you.

To let Him lead me one step at a time knowing that even if I have no clue what I’m doing or where I’m going, He does. And He will make sure that I reach the end safely. Taking that step forward into the unknown requires that I know Him more. That I trust the One who guides our every step.

“Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don’t get worked up about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes.” (Matthew 6:34 MSG)

Discussion Questions:

Worrying about our future, our health, our kids, whether or not we are measuring up at work, school, family life…the list goes on and on. What would you say is your biggest worry?
Have you ever felt like the future was hopeless? What was your stress level?
Read 1 Kings 19:3-11: Verse 4 gives us a dark picture of how Elijah was processing the events he had just gone through. What was Elijah focusing on? What do you focus on when looking at the future?
In verse 10, Elijah has a pretty bleak vision for his future. Have you had a bleak view of your future? What can we do to change our view of the future?
Do you struggle with any “what if” questions? How can you push past them to experience God’s peace in your life? Rather than worrying and struggling through something uncertain, what can you thank God for today?
Pray and ask God to help you trust Him for the future?