Spring
2001
Uncertainty
Confussion and Change
By Pastor Dave Stahl
At this present time, many Christians are experiencing uncertainty
and seemingly, confusion. Everything under the sun, especially
the devil, is blamed for these situations in our lives. The
Lord is not the author of confusion, for His word clearly
states,
“For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace,
as in all churches of the saints.” I Corinthians 14:33.
If you would ask Job, Moses, Joseph, and others, they may
tell you otherwise. As their lives were “changed into
the same image from glory to glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18)
they encountered much confusion, uncertainty, and constant
change.
When we walk in obedience to the Lord’s word for our
lives, the result of doing so will manifest in constant change.
Many Christians do not do well with change in their lives,
as they are content and comfortable in their present experience
and with all the things that He has provided.
This becomes very vivid when the Lord begins to enlarge,
or rearrange our lives so His plan and purpose for us can
continue to develop. Change is good for us, as it will move
us out of our routine life patterns and the way in which we
see ourselves, others, and even the Lord.
This change will foster a desire in us to see the Lord afresh;
not only as the One who can forgive our sins, but as being
our King in all His beauty and strength. This change will
cause us to see Him as our great provider, because he had
taken away our provisions, until we came to see the Lord as
our “all and in all.”
How we handle this time of change and uncertainty is the measure
of whether we allow this inspired work of God to overwhelm
us, or rather, to develop us. As long as we focus on the goal
(our being conformed into the image of Jesus Christ) and daily
move in what the Lord is providing, He will continue His “good
work” within us. Developing us into spiritual maturity
is the Lord’s good pleasure.
I can personally speak of this great change and uncertainty.
In December 1999, the Lord spoke one word to me, “retire.”
What change and uncertainty this one word brought to me, my
family, and my church, in Stuttgart, Germany, as I retired
after 23 years in the U.S. Navy.
Often, we miss the Lord’s timing by waiting on Him
to share more of His plan, but this He seldom does. He expects
us to correctly move in what He has already provided. He knows,
for us to be successful in big things, we must learn obedience
and be faithful first in little things.
And, as we walk in obedience to His word, our pathway begins
to clear, and we then see where our next step is to be. Obedience,
in faith, to the Lord’s word cuts through the fog of
uncertainty and confusion, and allows the change that the
Lord brings into our lives to move us to the next level of
glory.