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.