Living In Uncertain Times Series

At a conference in Houston, speaker Marti Ensign, a missionary to Africa, told of bringing some African pastors to the United States for a big meeting.

During their free time, these Africans wanted to go shopping. Even though they were in a small town, Marti knew there was a chance someone might have difficulty or get lost. So she gave them her phone number for such an emergency. In less than an hour the phone rang and the African said, “I am lost.”

Marti said, “Lay the phone down, go to the street corner, find out the names of the two streets at the corner, come back and tell me, and I will come and get you.”

In a few minutes he returned to the phone and reported, “I am at the corner of Walk and Don't Walk” (Phillip Gunter, Round Rock, Texas; www.PreachingToday.com).

Sometimes, you feel like you’re at the same corner. You don’t know if you should stay or go, turn right or left, go forward or back. These are uncertain times for many people, so How do you live in such times? How do you live when you don’t know what to do?

Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn with me to Mark 11, Mark 11, where Jesus’ first disciples follow Him into a city where its leaders had threatened to kill Him. It was an uncertain time for them, and many of them were afraid (Mark 10:32). Even so, they show us how to live in such times.

Mark 11:1-11 Now when they drew near to Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two of his disciples and said to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately as you enter it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has ever sat. Untie it and bring it. If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘The Lord has need of it and will send it back here immediately.’ ” And they went away and found a colt tied at a door outside in the street, and they untied it. And some of those standing there said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” And they told them what Jesus had said, and they let them go. And they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their cloaks on it, and he sat on it. And many spread their cloaks on the road, and others spread leafy branches that they had cut from the fields. And those who went before and those who followed were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David! Hosanna in the highest!” And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve (ESV).

Jerusalem was the place where its leaders wanted Jesus dead, but that doesn’t seem to concern Jesus one bit. On the contrary, Jesus is in absolute control here. He is Lord. He is King. He is sovereign.

Notice, He tells his disciples exactly what they’ll find when they enter the next village. He tells them what somebody will say, and He tells them how to answer (vs.2-3). Jesus is in absolute control of the situation here, not to mention that he rides the colt of a donkey “which no one has ever ridden” (vs.2). Now, if you or I would try to ride an unbroken colt, we’d both find ourselves on the ground. Not Jesus. There is no indication that this colt bucked or even balked. Jesus is in complete control! He is the King!

Look at the following paragraph and see if you can read it (on PowerPoint):

The hmuan mnid is a wndoreullfy cpoemlx oargn. You see? It deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod aearpr, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is that the frist and lsat ltteer are in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the human mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig isn't it? (www.PreachingToday.com)

Your life is like that sometimes. It doesn’t always make sense, but those are the times you need to step back and remember that Jesus Christ is the One who controls the end from the beginning. In fact, He IS the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last (Revelation 1:8).

So when things in the middle don’t make sense, rest assured that one day God will make it all perfectly clear. Jesus is sovereign. He is in control.