Comforting Fog

As humans, we tend to seek clarity moving forward.  We want to know what on the road ahead.  We want to know the turns we're going to have to take, any bumps in the road and any detours.  We want to be sure of where our next paycheck and next meal is coming from.  More than that, we want to be able to look down the road to retirement and beyond and see what lies ahead.

Looking ahead can be both comforting and stressful.  We can take comfort in the fact that we have  good job, insurance and a retirement account.  We can watch our portfolio grow and our assessts accumulate.  However, just as easily, we can see how uncertain our job is, how volatile the market is and how quiclty our preparation can be undone.  It can be terribly unsettling to come to the realization that all my plans depend on me keeping on track and others keeping their word.  The name Enron keeps echoing from the past and recession is a reality we are all too familiar wih.  Not to menttion, poor health and world tension.

But not to look forward is to not see.  It is to walk blindly.  Who would want to walk in  fog?  Who would not want to walk by sight?  I'm glad you asked.  The faithful may make all kinds of preparations for the future, but they do not walk by sight, they walk by faith (1 Cor 5:7).  Their trust is not in their jobs or retirement or insurance, it is in Jesus Christ.

Do you recall Psalm 23:4?  "Even though I walk through the darkest valley (valley of the shadow of death), I will fear no evil for you are with me..."  The confidence of the one walking in this valley is not the ability to see, which might even produce fear, but in the presence of the Shepherd.  Do you remember walking in the dark as a small child, holding on to your mom or dad's hand?  Were you worried about the dark?  Were you concerned about seeing your way through?  You were not concerned about the dark or the direction or the dangers - you were comforted by your parent's presence.

In truth, the path ahead is a not seeable.  We live in a sort of present tense fog that does not allow us to see into the future.  This fog can be anxiety producing, if we are depending on ourselves.  Howeve, th fog, which keeps us from seeing all that is ahead can prompt us to hold on to and put our trustt in the Lord.  In that case, we will be comforted.  We don't have to know what our future holds when we know who holds our future.  The fog that requires one walk by faith does not produce anxiety in one who walks by faith in Christ instead of by sight on his own.  Jus' Sayn.