The ‘Certainty Principle’
by Peter Brokaar
In life, not that many things are certain. We’re not guaranteed an easy time, prosperous blessing or success in all our plans. We don’t even know what will happen tomorrow, or how many days are allotted to us. Even the weather can be unpredictable! How, with so many uncertainties, are we to find solid ground on which to build our lives?
I remember a day; before I personally knew the Lord, when I learnt about what physicists call ‘the uncertainty principle’. This interesting and, by now, fully accepted premise, developed by German physicist Heisenberg, states that one can’t know for certain the exact place as well as the exact speed of an object. This observation really threw me! If we can’t know this for certain, what then can we be certain of? Silly though it may seem, it shook my foundational understanding of life’s observations itself.
As I pondered this recently, I realised that now I know the Person who does know absolutely everything there is to know. That includes the place and speed of each individual object (including sub-atomic particles!). God knows. I can be certain of the most important facts of life because I know the Person who knows. It’s not what you know but who you know that truly matters most!
We may at times go through periods of darkness, confusion and struggle. Sometimes it might even feel as if God has withdrawn His Presence from us. It is in these times that I believe we can stand on what I now like to call ‘the certainty principle’. We may now know exactly what is happening to us, but we know that there is One who knows. We can find rest. It’s in these times of darkness that we learn to live by faith and not by sight. We get to exercise faith and really please God, for it says that ‘without faith it is impossible to please Him’ (Hebrews 11:6). When we put our trust in Him, even when we can’t make sense of the situation ourselves, we really do please God.
Be encouraged to remember God’s ‘certainty principle’! It can help us to turn dark times into times where we grow in faith, and into opportunities to please our Father in heaven, who sees, knows and understands absolutely everything that goes on in this universe.
Peter Brokaar is Director of Ellel Ministries Scotland and has been there together with his wife Liz since 2005. They have 3 kids, all born in Scotland! In his free time he likes reading, cooking, running and surfing. Being at Ellel Scotland has given him the privilege of getting to know God deeper and sharing that joy with many others.
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