Fear when the Future is Uncertain

Imagine that you are married to a very powerful person who has a second in command that is questionably linked to some underhanded dealings. You learn of a threat to your own family from this person. How do proceed?

Imagine the announcement of layoffs at work as a threat to food on the table, the mortgage, the children’s good school. Changes are coming down the pipe at work, and it might impact home as well. How do you proceed?

This was not just a hypothetical situation to Esther, and maybe not to some of you either. I bet we have all faced threats to our way of life, our future expectations, our jobs, our children. It would be easy to blame one person for these threats, but it is rarely so. Yes, Haman plotted, but it was the king who ill-judged Haman. It wasn’t just one person, but also the scribes who wrote out the decree and the messengers who proclaimed genocide throughout the realm. No one decried this planned genocide. Certainly, Esther faced an elevated threat. But isn’t that how threat always seems: elevated?

Uncertain future

How do you proceed when nothing is as it was, and the future is uncertain? In Luke 24:36-49, the disciples were meeting together when Jesus appeared, and the disciples were in the grip of fear. Jesus asks them why they were so stirred up inside and doubtful. Yes, fear and doubt, fear and faith as we looked at before. The disciples were staring at a future without Jesus among them and they were fearful. They were fearful of what they thought was a ghost. They were fearful, period.

Esther’s fear to faith

Esther too must have been quite fearful (Esther 4:11). Upon hearing of a planned genocide of her people, she fears dying by approaching the king without having been called. She considers that she will die first. Mordechai reminds her that deliverance for her people will come from somewhere – he shares his faith in righteous outcome by God’s hand. This reminder is enough that she focuses on God and asks for others fast and pray with her.

She hesitantly approaches the king, is granted her request for a meal with the king. Can’t you imagine her thoughts? ‘What will I say? How do I frame this exactly right? Do I go direct approach or imply? What do I say, oh, what do I say?’ I am not convinced that Esther had a plan on how to proceed. I think she simply did the next thing she knew. She approached. She entertained, maybe she thought buttering them up with a feast and flattery might put them in the right mood. She did not know Haman directly, only his actions. Perhaps she was also scoping out the options with these men. Then she faltered and asked for another day to continue the feasting and flattery. (I think, while she was still frantically thinking about what she would say!) She did what she knew how to do, she entertained. And God worked.

God behind the scenes

The king couldn’t sleep and so had the scroll brought out and read to him. He heard positive things of a Jew and decided to honor the Jew. Haman was humiliated among his friends in the honoring of the Jew. Already the king had a positive disposition toward Jews, while and Haman was being put in his place. So, when Esther spoke up against the genocide, God had already worked on the hearts of men to bring about solutions. Esther began fearful and uncertain of her future, but quickly turned her eyes to God, praying and fasting. She did what she knew how to do, and God worked unseen bringing about solutions that were beyond her experience.

The disciples too were reminded of the promises, the deliverance, and guidance of God when Jesus appeared among them. They too went on doing what they had been doing, meeting together and breaking bread together, such as in Damascus. And they see the risen Jesus and are promised and receive the Holy Spirit to guide them and fill them with power. God continued to work in them to bring about great things, witnessing to the ends of the earth.

God brings about good

When we fear uncertainty of the future, we need only focus on God, pray and listen to Him, and do what we know while God works to bring about good in the midst of this uncertainty. I do not think this is a ‘do what you can’ kind of thing, because that implies that God is not working to bring things about for our good, but that we have to instead. Nothing could be farther from the truth. If my job is threated by redundancy, I need to tuck in and do it well, I get the church praying; I do not need to screech to my co-workers and dwell on the negative thoughts of what if. If my child is diagnosed with cancer, I need to set appointments, follow up and contact the church to get them praying; I do not need to wring my hands and ask why or bemoan what ifs. If I am in a car accident and cannot work, I go to therapy, I ask to work online, I seek alternate employment, I get the prayer chain going and ask for my small group to fast with me. I do the next thing and trust that God is working unseen. God prepared the heart of the king and the wicked man even set up his own guillotine, all unbeknownst to Esther. In uncertain times, we too can turn to God and do what we know, listening closely to Him, remembering His promises, and trusting that He is working for our good even in our uncertainty.

God works to bring about good in the midst of uncertainty.png