We never know what a season will bring, what a month will bring, or even what a day will bring. The recent circumstances of people I love have got me thinking about the uncertain nature of living in this world. Some had the greatest spring of their lives only to find it followed by the hardest of summers. Some experienced the heights of joy in June, never imagining the depths of sorrow that would come with July. Some learned that a day of celebration can be immediately followed by a day of lament. Such is life in a world as shattered and broken as ours.
This evening we will turn our calendars from Wednesday to Thursday and at the same time July will give way to August. And not a single one of us knows what will come with the changing of the day or the changing of the month. We long for peace, we hope for joy, we pray for ease, but God alone knows what will come beyond this very moment.
We cast our eyes toward this uncertain future as people who are needy, sick, and broken. We approach it as people who are so very weak—physically weak, emotionally weak, and morally weak, not to mention weak in knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. And while we have no certainty about what lies just beyond time’s horizon, we do know it’s likely to bring trials to weather, temptations to conquer, illnesses to suffer, and offenses to endure. There will be joys and delights too, of course. But it’s the sorrows and hardships we fear.
We can call upon God to shelter us in trial, to protect us in temptation, to comfort us in illness, and to sanctify us when wronged.
We know we are too weak to master each of these challenges on our own and to pass through them without sin, failure, and collapse. What a blessing it is to know, then, that God promises to be our refuge and strength, our very present help in times of trouble. What a blessing to know that we can call upon him to shelter us in trial, to protect us in temptation, to comfort us in illness, and to sanctify us when wronged. What a blessing to know that God delights to give us strength sufficient for each one of these challenges and the resilience to pass through each of them unbroken in our spirit and unwavering in our faith. In moments of uncertainty, we can depend upon his wisdom. In moments of wavering, we can rely upon his unchangeableness. In moments of weakness, we can lean upon his strength.
As we approach the uncertainties of a new day and a new month, we can be certain about this: By God’s grace, we can emerge from every trial triumphant in his strength. By God’s grace, we can emerge from each battle victorious in his mercy. By God’s grace, we can emerge from each trauma, trouble, and temptation ever more conformed to the image of our precious Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
