Uncertain.
The one thing we can say for certain about these past few years - with a terrible sort of irony - is that they have been years filled with uncertainty.
From the suddenness of the initial lockdown in March 2020, throughout the fearful months that followed, to the many changes in regulations and bouts of anxiety that we’ve endured since.
Very little has felt consistent or predictable in this strange time we’re continuing to live through.
Whether you had your graduate job fall through, your kids unable to go to school for months at a time, or you’ve had to plan and re-plan a wedding countless times.
We’ve all been affected in some way.
Even now, our lives are still being subjected to unwelcome restrictions, and the sudden loss of things we assumed were safe and unchanging.
From the seemingly small things, like our daily coffee pick-up from a favourite café, right up to the big stuff, like our jobs, and even our health and the health of our loved ones.
We recognise now that we cannot assume the unchanging nature of these things in the way we once did.
None of these things were as immovable and unchangeable as we wanted to believe they were.
We’ve seen some semblance of “normality” return over the past few months, with several rounds of vaccination under our belts. But just as we seemed to be settling into our new normal, the omicron variant of the virus appeared, causing yet more panic, anxiety, and grief.
There seems to be no end to the uncertainty that accompanies life in a covid-tainted world.
In all honesty, when I reflect on pre-pandemic life - was there much in my life, even then, that was truly constant?
In our continuing longing for “normality” to return, for the pandemic to be over and done with, I believe we see something of a deeper longing, one that predates covid.
A longing for something that will not change, even as everything around us seems to be shifting, less robust and predictable than we thought it was.
Even when something as unexpected as coronavirus swoops in and turns pretty much every aspect of our lives upside down.
A longing for something consistent.
A longing for something steadfast.
A longing for a solid foundation for hope ~ (especially as we head into this new year of unknowns).
If we look to the Bible, this ancient book proposes that this something is, in fact, a someone.
“Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday and today and forever” Hebrews 13:8 {The Bible}.
The God of the Bible, who shows Himself to us in His Son Jesus, is described as the One who does not change. He is utterly consistent, unchanging in character, and steadily present in our world of changing circumstances.
He “does not change like shifting shadows'' (James 1:17). Rather, He is described many times throughout the Bible as a rock; steadfast and unshakeable.
He fulfils our longing for something consistent and dependable. And even more wonderfully, He is consistently and dependably good.
He is consistently and dependably loving.
He is consistently and dependably the giver of hope.
So much so, that those who trust in Him can describe this hope as “an anchor for the soul, firm and secure” (Hebrews 6:19).
He invites each and every one of us to trust in Him.
To depend on the only One who will ever prove dependable; to build our lives on the firm foundation we find in Him, rather than on shifting sands.
Coronavirus will very likely still shape our lives in ways we cannot predict this coming year. There will be plenty of other curve balls thrown in too.
None of us know what lies ahead in 2022.
But if you’re searching for an anchor that will hold through it all in this new year,
The God of the Bible is the One you’re looking for.
~ By Becca Lemon.