Living without all the answers

Read Ecclesiastes 9:1

So I reflected on all this and concluded that the righteous and the wise and what they do are in God’s hands,but no one knows whether love or hate awaits them. (NIV)

Why do some of our prayers get the answer we desire and others seem to bounce off the ceiling? Why do some of our seemingly good and godly plans come to fruition while others are frustrated? Why do some come to Jesus while others stubbornly reject him? Why do some for whom we pray get better whilst others go from bad to worse?

There are those who will tell us that there is some wonderful formula which will resolve all such uncertainty. It often means reading their book or attending their course or observing a set of detailed prescriptions for life. And it is all a sad human attempt to tame the universe,to get God to conform to what we think he ought to do.

The writer of Ecclesiastes is beyond all that. He reckons there are no easy answers. We are in God’s hands,true enough,which is a great comfort. But just what this will lead to is another question. It seems we entrust ourselves each day into God’s hands,trusting he knows what he is doing even if we don’t know what he is doing.

Our great task in life is not to find all the answers but to find God. This may or may not resolve some of our questions. But a life of faith is a life lived without having all the answers or clearing up all the mystery. Sometimes we simply don’t know what is happening or why it is happening. It is then we discover that faith is something other than knowledge.

Blessings
David Reay