When All We Know Is We Just Don’t Know

Across the room in my office or with the help of a computer screen,

I sit with people weekly who say these four words,

“I just don’t know.”

Who can I trust?

What would make things better?

When will I feel good again?

Where do I turn next?

Why did this happen?

Question after question…….

hold the exact same answer.

Four small words that can seem so powerful and true yet leave us feeling so sad and empty,

“I just don’t know.”

What do we do when all we know is we just don’t know?

I’ve wondered this very thing many times in my own life.

Why did our infant daughter not wake up on April 30, 1992?

I just don’t know.

Why did our youngest son battle brain cancer and lose?

I just don’t know.

Why do I often feel as if my role as a “mom” has lost so much of its significance as my children have become adults?

I just don’t know.

Why has it been so difficult for me to write in the past year?

I just don’t know.

When will this pandemic end so life can feel normal again?

I just don’t know.

Why does it feel as if so many tragedies are happening?

I just don’t know.

The weight of these kinds of questions is often too much to bear………

alone.

And that’s when I remember what I so often forget.

“I am never alone.”

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These four words have the power to transform my,

“I just don’t know,”

into the one truth I do know,

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So what do I do when I just don’t know?

I remember the One who does know…………

has everything under control.

I remember the One who does know………

is always working for good.

I remember the One who does know………..

is ahead of me smoothing rough roads.

I remember the One who does know………..

promises to make everything beautiful in His time.

I remember the One who does know………………

longs to give me more than I could ever ask or imagine.

I remember the One who does know……………….

offers abundant life to all.

And I remember the One who does know………………..

understands exactly what it feels like to not know.

In Matthew 24, Jesus talks about His second coming as says,

But concerning that day and hour no one knows,

 not even the angels of heaven, 

nor the Son,

but the Father only.

This verse tells me that if we were able to ask Jesus when He will return,

He would gently and honestly reply,

“I just don’t know.”

Jesus.

King of Kings.

Prince of Peace.

Lord of Lords.

Holds a question in Heaven that has no answer.

Yet He is still very much the Son of God –

And Savior of the world.

So what do I do when I just don’t know?

I remember the One who does know is quite okay not knowing.

And suddenly, I feel better.

(Written while listening to David Nevue’s, A Winter Walk.)