Chase the Lion - Part 4: Embracing Uncertainty

The following message is from The Crossroads Community Church message series "Chase the Lion." The messages are inspired by and adapted from the book In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day and the accompanying messages by Mark Batterson, pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C.

“There was also Benaiah son of Jehoiada, a valiant warrior from Kabzeel. He did many heroic deeds, which included killing two of Moab's mightiest warriors. Another time he chased a lion down into a pit. Then, despite the snow and slippery ground, he caught the lion and killed it. Another time, armed only with a club, he killed a great Egyptian warrior who was armed with a spear. Benaiah wrenched the spear from the Egyptian's hand and killed him with it. These are some of the deeds that made Benaiah almost as famous as the Three. He was more honored than the other members of the Thirty, though he was not one of the Three. And David made him commander of his bodyguard.” 2 Samuel 23:20-23

I know one thing for sure, Benaiah didn't plan any of those encounters. They weren’t on his calendar. They weren’t on his dayplanner or his palm pilot. They weren’t on his to do list. I would guess that Benaiah didn’t wake up on the morning of his lion encounter saying, “Today, I think I’ll chase a lion into a pit, jump in the pit with the lion and kill it. Oh yeah, wait a minute, and it will be snowing.”

It is so easy to read about an incident that occurred three thousand years ago and fail to appreciate the element of surprise because we know how the story ends. But what you need to see is that killing the lion was not a foregone conclusion. In fact, it was probably a statistical unlikelihood. Hand-to-hand combat with another human is one thing. Humans have tendencies. You can predict punches and counterpunches with a higher level of certainty. But savage beasts tend to be volatile and unpredictable. Their actions and reactions are less certain. Plus you have to account for topographical, physiological and atmospheric conditions. How heavy was it snowing? Was it packing snow or slippery snow? What was the footing like in the pit? How about visibility? What time of day was it? How hungry was the lion? How well did Benaiah sleep the night before? Did he eat his Wheaties for breakfast that morning?

There are a thousand variables and they all add up to one thing: a high level of uncertainty! Benaia could have run away from the lion. And running away would have reduced uncertainty and increased security. But lion-chasers are not afraid of venturing into the unknown, of embracing uncertainty in life.

And here’s the reality. There is a tremendous amount of uncertainty in life. Think about the thousands of factors that affect your life: the weather, how other people drive, what your boss or coworkers are going to do or not do, what your children are going to do, what is going to happen with your health, what is going to happen with the economy, who is going to be elected president, what is going to happen to the cost of groceries, whether one of your kids is going to break an arm, whether or not your car breaks down, what your husband or wife does in your marriage. Now, how many of those things do you really have control over? Life is uncertain. Life is often chaotic. What are the middle two letters of the word life? If. Life is filled with contingencies and uncertainty.

Now, you can do one of two things about uncertainty in your life. You can try to reduce uncertainty in your life. You can try to be in absolute control of all the situations and circumstances in your life. You can try to make sure no one in your life does anything unexpected and make sure you have everything planned out in life. And if you do that, you are going to make yourself and everyone around you miserable. Why? Because you are going to be what is called a control freak. The other option is that you embrace uncertainty. You try to plan your life and live life with a measure of control, but you accept the fact that uncertainty is a normal part of life and you embrace it.

Lion chasers embrace uncertainty. So, let’s look at how to embrace uncertainty.

The first thing you’ve got to do to embrace uncertainty is embrace faith. Embracing uncertainty is one dimension of faith. You see, faith always involves a component of the unknown, the uncertain. If we knew everything God was going to do, if we had 100% certainty about who God is and what God is doing and what God wants us to do in life, then there wouldn’t be any room for faith. Faith, by its very definition involves uncertainty. Hebrews 11:1 defines faith in terms of uncertainty: “Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” There’s kind of an oxymoron going on in that verse. Faith is being sure of what we hope for, being certain of what we do not see. You see, faith is guaranteed uncertainty. It’s having this settled confidence in the midst of not having all the answers, not knowing everything that is going to happen, not having everything worked out for ourselves.

Werner Heisenberg was a German physicist who won the Nobel Prize in 1932 for his research into quantum theory. His most famous finding was the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. Now, I won’t get into all the details of it, but in a nutshell, it stated that, related to quantum particles, the building blocks of the universe, “The imprecise measurement of initial conditions precludes the precise prediction of future outcomes,” or in simple terms, there will always be an element of uncertainty. Life is infinitely uncertain. Now couple that with the fact that God is infinitely complex. Just when we think we have God all figured out, we discover that there is a new dimension to him that we had never even contemplated. So, if life is infinitely uncertain and God is infinitely complex, then all we can do is embrace uncertainty. 2 Corinthians 5:7 says, “We live by faith, not by sight.” I think a lot of people have the mistaken notion that faith reduces uncer-tainty. Nothing could be further from the truth. Faith doesn’t reduce uncertainty. It embraces it.

Now, I think faith does reduce spiritual uncertainty. We can know that our sins are forgiven; we have been adopted as God’s children; all the promises of God are yes in Christ; every spiritual blessing is ours in Christ; and when we cross the spacetime continuum we’ll spend eternity in a place called Heaven. But here’s the trick. I think it is those spiritual certainties that enable us to embrace circumstantial uncertainties. Faith results in a reduction of spiritual uncertainty, but it often results in an increase in circumstantial uncertainty because God is going to call us to go places and do things that require total reliance upon God. And in many instances, the more faith the more uncertainty!

You see, lion chasers don’t have to know what is coming next, because they know that God knows. They don’t need explanations for every disappointment because they know that God has a plan. Jeremiah 29:11, one of my favorite verses, says,

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Now, notice, God doesn’t say, I’m going to tell you all my plans for you. He just says, “I’ve got plans and they’re good ones, so hang on for the ride.” I can look back over my life for the last fifteen years, and look at all the stuff that has happened in my life, relationships I’ve formed, experiences I’ve had, the way God has worked in my life, and now I can see how they have brought me to this point. Several years ago, LaRissa and I lost a baby in a miscarriage. And just honestly, I never have figured out why God allowed that to happen. But, the important lesson I learned through that experience is that I don't have to understand what God is doing to trust him. To embrace uncertainty, you have to embrace faith, embrace the fact that God is working it out according to his plan.

Then, second, embracing uncertainty means embracing adventure. For the disciples, following Jesus certainly meant an increase in uncertainty, but it also meant an increase in adventure.

“As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ‘Come, follow me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men.’ At once they left their nets and followed him.” Mark 1:16-17 (NIV)

They left the security of family and home and job to chase the adventure of a lifetime with Jesus. And Jesus promises them insecurity: “But Jesus said, ‘Foxes have dens to live in, and birds have nests, but I, the Son of Man, have no home of my own, not even a place to lay my head.’” Matthew 8:20 (NLT). When you follow Christ you never know where you’re going to end up. Anything can happen. All bets are off! That is scary, but it is also exciting. Jesus was promising high levels of uncertainty—the element of surprise. And He delivers on His promises! Following Christ is the ultimate adventure! Tremendous amounts of uncertainty, but tremen-dous amounts of adventure.

Our family likes to go camping. Now, let me tell you, our camping trips are always an adventure. There are massive doses of uncertainty in our camping trips. Several years ago we went on a camping trip to Beaver's Bend State Park in Oklahoma. We got ready to go to bed, and put away our food in our cooler. The cooler latched shut, so I didn't think there would be any problem, and left the cooler sitting out. Ten minutes after we got in the tent, it sounded like WWIII outside. I look outside the tent, and an army of raccoons has arrived to raid our campsite. I look at the cooler, and all I can see is the back end of a raccoon. The rest of him was in the cooler.

So, I scare the racoons off and put away the cooler. But the raccoons continue to fight over the food they managed to get out of the cooler for the next several hours. That is, until about 3 a.m. That's when something else entered the camp, somthing bigger and scarier. We hear a low, rumbling growl, and the raccoons disappear. LaRissa whispers to me, "Whats' that?" To which I respond in a very manly way, "I don't know, but let's be really still and quiet and maybe it will leave us alone." Well, whatever it was, it began to sniff the sides of our tent. Somehow, I deluded myself into thinking that the thin, fabric walls of our tent would protect us from whatever the creature outside was. LaRissa, somewhat hysterically, says, "What should we do? (I should mention at this point that I was sleeping in the middle of the tent, and she was sleeping next to the edge where the critter was)." So, I respond, "Shhh, if we're quiet maybe it won't know we're in here." So, we spent the next several hours praying for dawn. Dawn arrived and the critter was gone.

Uncertainty is what makes camping so much fun. There is something about a camping trip that turns everything into an adventure. You aren’t just eating. You’re adventure eating—you cook your food over the campfire. You aren’t just sleeping. You’re adventure sleeping—you’re in a tent under the stars. You aren’t just walking. You’re adventure walking—it’s called hi-king. When you go camping it turns everything into an adventure! That is precisely what a relationship with Christ does? It turns everything into an adventure. And part of adventure is high levels of uncertainty!

Now, what we often do is focus our energies on telling God what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. And repeat ourselves over and over again to make sure God doesn’t miss any of the important details. But look at what happened in Acts 2:1-4"

“When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.”

The Day of Pentecost was an unplanned day for the disciples. It’s not like they woke up and said, “Today, I think I’ll speak in a foreign language that I have never learned.” I’m pretty sure the day started out like any other day for the disciples. But here’s the thing, you can’t plan Pentecost. God’s greatest adventures usually aren’t things we’ve got planned. The most unexpected things in our lives are usually the biggest adventures.

Think about it this way, the greatest movies have the highest level of uncertainty. You have romantic uncertainty or dramatic uncertainty or relational uncertainty, but if the movie is going to hold the attention of the audience, there generally is some suspense, a high degree of uncertainty. Uncertainty produces adventure. High levels of uncertainty don’t just make the best movies. High levels of uncertainty make the best lives! So, here’s what you have to do to embrace that uncertainty. You have to be flexible. If you are going to turn uncertainty into adventure, you have to be flexible.

Then, to embrace uncertainty, you chase the wind. Now, chasing the wind is usually an expression for an uncertain or questionable venture. But I want you to look at what Jesus says in Jn. 3: Jesus: “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” Jesus uses the analogy of the wind to describe the working of the Holy Spirit in the lives of people who come to faith in Jesus Christ. You can’t see where the wind is coming from, you can’t tell where it is going, but you can certainly see its effects. In the same way, I can’t tell how or when the Holy Spirit is going to be at work, leading, directing in a person’s life. I can’t predict who is going to be moved by the Spirit at any given time, and I certainly can’t tell you how the Spirit is directing your life or what He is calling you to do in life. But I can definitely see the effects of His activity in people’s lives. And here’s the thing that’s cool about that verse. Jesus doesn’t say, “So it is with the Spirit.” He says, “So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” It’s not just that the Spirit is unpredictable. He also produces unpredictability and uncertainty in the lives of God’s people.

Following the direction of the Holy Spirit will result in chasing the wind in your life. You will do stuff you never dreamed you’d do. You will go after dreams you thought were impossible. You will attempt things you never thought you could do. You will accomplish stuff that is humanly impossible. You will go to parts of the world you never would have before. You will eat things, talk to people, do things, experience things you would have never done before, all as you follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit’s direction in your life is not always going to make sense. It’s not always going to be according to your plans. Following God’s direction and God’s Spirit will produce uncertainty in your life. And it’s awesome! Look at what Hebrews 11:8 says about Abraham, “He went without knowing where he was going.” Can I get a witness? Women, you ever feel that way riding with your husband? That’s what I have come to call obedience in the unknown, and that’s what God wants of us. We don’t have all the details. We don’t have it all worked out. There is a high degree of uncertainty. But we know that God has called us to go, so we go.
There are things that we can know in life. We can know to some degree what God’s Spirit is leading us to do, even though we don’t know all the details. And we have to make a decision to follow when we don’t know all the details.

In his book, The Barbarian Way, Erwin McManus writes about the names of different animal groups. A group of fish is called a school. Ants are called colonies; bees are called a swarm. Cattle are herds, birds are flocks, and a tribe of lions is a pride. For what it’s worth, a group of buzzards is called a committee! But here’s my personal favorite: a group of rhinos is called a crash.

That name seems so fitting! Believe it or not, a rhino can run about thirty miles per hour which is pretty amazing considering how much weight they are carrying! They are actually faster than squirrels which can run about twenty-six miles per hour.

But here’s the funny thing. Rhinos have terrible eyesight. They can only see about thirty feet in front of themselves. So they are running thirty miles an hour with no idea what’s at thirty-one feet! You would think they’d be timid creatures because they can’t see very far in front of themselves. But God, in his amazingly creative foresight, gave rhinos a big horn on the front of their head.

Now, here’s the lesson from the rhino: “The future is uncertain, but we need to move toward it with confidence. There’s a future to be created, a humanity to be liberated. We need to stop wasting our time and stop being afraid of what we cannot see and do not know. We need to move forward full of force because of what we do know.” Chase the wind! Chase the lion! Move forward full speed and full force following the leading of the Holy Spirit.

I love Deuteronomy 29:29: “There are secret things that belong to the LORD our God, but the revealed things belong to us and our descendants forever, so that we may obey these words of the law.” There are some things that God has not revealed to us. There is uncertainty in life. But we don’t allow uncertainty to cripple us, because we know the one who is in control. There was this old song we sang in church when I was a kid. And it said, “Many things about tomorrow, I don’t seem to understand, but I know who holds tomorrow, and I know who holds my hand.” Who is holding your hand?