“We’re living in uncertain times.” 

This was a common refrain in news broadcasts 6 years ago when Covid-19 was beginning to spread around the world. At the time, many people were getting sick. Death tolls were in the headlines. Fear was the dominant instrument used in propaganda to bring some semblance of control and order in our society. The confusion sown at the time was pronounced, making it difficult to discern the truth from fiction. Uncertainty abounded. Governments enforced policies affecting numerous people’s lives materially, and mostly in a negative way. Day-to-day life changed for just about everyone on the planet, causing many to not know what to do next. People made all kinds of wild speculations about what the future would hold, but nobody really knew what would happen. The future was not clear.

I raise this memory as an example of what collective uncertainty feels like. When the future is hard to predict, it can be a challenge to know what to do. We face uncertainty today as well. The advent of AI is changing the landscape of how work is done, with many predicting massive job loss and unemployment. Nobody really knows what will happen, but sensational speculations abound. War in the Middle East escalates instability in the region, putting the world’s nations on edge. These are current occurrences at a global scale. Individually, on a personal scale, we deal with uncertainty too. Sudden changes in life circumstances can alter the course of our future in a moment, sometimes at a global scale, and other times individually. Uncertainty is a fact of life. 

What are you going to do?

When faced with a choice for which any decision will lead to an unpredictable outcome, how do you make up your mind about what to do? If AI is taking over the world, threatening to steal your job, what are you going to do about it? When other kinds of calamities in your life disrupt your plans, how do you make decisions?

One way to make decisions is by trying to achieve an outcome, focusing on that goal, and modifying your behavior to reach that outcome. The ends justify the means. This is the approach that fear-mongering promotes. Those who claim to have solutions will say things to the effect of, “If you want this outcome, do this, not that.” They prey upon the fear of uncertainty, making empty promises for the stability of a certain and comfortable outcome. 

However, focusing our efforts to control our outcome is a trap. “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, spend a year there, buy and sell, and make a profit’; whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we shall live and do this or that.’ But now you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil” (James 4:13-16). The Bible is clear that we can do nothing to save ourselves. The circumstances of our lives are firmly in the grasp of the living God. He is the One who brings about the outcomes in our lives — not we. To get into a way of thinking that presupposes we can control our outcomes is doomed to cause compound problems. If the outcome is the fixed objective, and our behaviors are the variable that changes, we would be bound to deviate from righteous behavior in submission to God. This is not what God wants.

The Bible instructs us consistently to practice righteousness (compare Matthew 5:6; 1 John 2:29; 1 John 3:7,10). This is the superior way to make decisions. 

When we accept that it is impossible for us to do a good job of controlling the outcomes in our lives, it takes a lot of pressure away. We must trust God to direct our paths, knowing that He is the One who will give us exactly what we need. Our work is to listen to Him, focusing our efforts on being profitable servants to Him. Living this way keeps our behavior as the fixed constant, leaving the outcome as the variable. This places uncertainty into God’s control, not ours. In this way of making decisions, we can be satisfied inherently in doing what is right in the eyes of God. We don’t have to worry about the uncertain future.

When Daniel and his friends were in captivity, they faced life-threatening uncertainty. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego had their lives threatened if they refused to worship the god of Nebuchadnezzar. But rather than try to control the outcome of that situation, compromising their convictions to save their lives, they chose to not waver. “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, ‘O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up’” (Daniel 3:16-18). Note how they submitted to the Will of God, knowing that the outcome of their lives was in His hands. They had faith that holding fast to righteousness would yield the best result. And it did. Following this moment, they were indeed thrown into a burning fiery furnace, but their lives were miraculously saved. 

Uncertainty prevails in our lives. As the time of Jesus Christ’s return draws near, the magnitude of uncertainty will increase even more. Everyone will need to answer the question posed to them, “What are you going to do?” Many in the world will attempt to take matters into their own hands to control their outcome. But this way is corrupt. The right way in the eyes of God is live according to righteousness, directed by virtuous principles. This makes uncertainty powerless in its fight against us, placing God firmly in control.

It is human nature to justify our actions. For example, one might choose to tell a so-called white lie when asked about their opinion. If telling the Truth might invoke conflict, masking the Truth to prevent conflict might seem like the best thing to do. Human nature will push us to believe that God won’t mind a little sin if it is for the purpose of doing what we think is good.

However, those who rely only on their human judgment to evaluate between right and wrong and choose to do what is contrary to what God commands are deceived. They might think that God will understand their circumstances and permit a minor indiscretion. Certainly, He will consider the situation and allow an exception to His rules, right?

Wrong.

As hard as it might be to accept, God’s Laws do not make room for exceptions. White lies are one simple example. But this principle extends to other seemingly harmless actions as well. Consider the high standard that Jesus Christ described when He explained how sin begins in the heart. Even though the Ten Commandments condemn murder, Jesus explained that even being angry with one’s brother without a cause can bring one into judgment (compare Matthew 5:21-22). He also explained that a man who looks upon another woman with lust or a desire to commit adultery with her commits sin, even if the actual physical act never takes place (compare Matthew 5:27-28).

With a human perspective, it can be tempting to believe that our good intentions that manifest as sinful behavior would be acceptable by God, but this is simply not true.

In fact, if we have an attitude of knowingly committing sin in defiance of God’s commandments because we think those sins are no big deal, we put ourselves in a very dangerous position. If we sin willfully with full knowledge of the Truth, this is known as committing the unpardonable sin. “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries” (Hebrews 10:26-27). It does not matter if that sin is big or small, because it is all sin. Even an unrepented white lie spoken willfully to deceive is enough to result in this terrible condemnation.

“For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, ‘Do not commit adultery,’ also said, ‘Do not murder.’ Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law” (James 2:10-11).

Considering how there is such a high standard to be without sin is sobering. We all have failed in our attempts to obey God, even though we try. The point is to continue learning from our mistakes and correct our paths, not to continue making mistakes willfully, thinking that our sins are no big deal to God. When we have an attitude of repentance, we can continue claiming the Sacrifice of Jesus Christ to offer us forgiveness. If we are willing to turn away from sin, Jesus Christ is willing to forgive us. But if we are so full of pride that we believe our sins don’t matter, there is no sacrifice that remains to forgive us.

We cannot take God’s commandments lightly. If we sin willfully, thinking that God won’t mind, we are mistaken, and gravely so. Fortunately, as long as we take God seriously, continue to love the Truth, and repent from our sins when we discover them, we will receive forgiveness which will save us.

An abundance of options prevails in our lives. To my wife and me, simply choosing something to watch from a streaming video service on Saturday night after the Sabbath has become a chore! I remember when watching something on TV was limited to about half a dozen channels broadcast over the air, and even further limited by the scheduled programming of those stations.  Certainly, we had less to choose from, but it made the process of deciding a whole lot simpler.

“The Paradox of Choice” is the title of a book, published by author Barry Schwartz in 2004. In this book, Schwartz explains how having a multitude of choices in the modern world counterintuitively causes people to be less happy with their decisions. Having too many options turns out to make people less likely to feel that they have made the best decision. Yet still, people gravitate towards shaping their circumstances, so they have the greatest possible set of options to choose from. Ironically, this only works against their best interests. Maybe you can relate.

Adam and Eve began by making a choice that set the course for humankind in the way that many of their descendants would make wrong decisions. They chose the way of worldly wisdom, which is not satisfied with the simplicity of godly wisdom. After eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, their eyes were opened to a multitude of options. The vast majority of those options lead humankind towards the satisfaction of carnal desires, but further and further away from the true joy that comes from turning to God instead.

The book referenced above was written in the past 20 years, being acclaimed for its novel findings about the abundance of choice leading to a life of dissatisfaction. But the Bible revealed this problem thousands of years ago. God warned Adam and Eve that following the path of worldly wisdom, symbolized by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, would result in death (compare Genesis 2:17) and suffering (compare Genesis 3:16-19). The way of life Adam and Eve chose brought about the current state of the world. And so, today we have choices that interminably grow in number. But they will never lead us to find true fulfillment.

Fortunately, there is a better way. And it does not (necessarily) require canceling subscriptions or living off the grid. God’s Holy Spirit gives us the opportunity to choose differently. The options in life that the world offers will only provide worldly experiences. But God, through His Holy Spirit, helps us to understand that the path to a life of truly deep satisfaction is to simply obey God and love the way of life He provides. The abundance of choices available in our lives will continue to be there, but in a life dedicated to God they do not matter. They cannot provide the kind of satisfaction that a life guided by godly wisdom does.

Solomon had tremendous abundance in his life. He had so much wealth that he could have whatever he wanted that money could buy. Yet, it did not give him the satisfaction he sought. It was all a vain pursuit (compare Ecclesiastes 2:9-11). He experienced the paradox of choice as we do today. In his wisdom, he understood the solution to the paradox. “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all. For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing, Whether good or evil” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14). The simple secret to living a satisfied life is to obey God.

We understand that our joy comes from refusing to participate in the paradox of choice. Simplifying our lives by reducing our options might make it easier to choose a movie to watch, but it may not guide us to abound in the Spirit. The true happiness that God provides comes from putting the power of the Holy Spirit to work, giving us godly discernment to judge righteously. Satisfaction comes from a life well-lived, choosing the path that leads to life resulting from godly obedience and wisdom.