Such a Time as This – Hope for our Children in Uncertain Times

It’s easy to look at our current circumstances and be fearful for what’s to come for our children.  The values of our country are looking more and more foreign to what we know to be good and true from scripture.  Christians are increasingly mocked and ridiculed and shunned.  There is a pandemic that reaches all corners of the globe and seems like it’s never going to end.  It’s hard to look at the future and see any light ahead.

But these times aren’t new.  Civilizations have faced dark and uncertain periods from the dawn of time.  Many of these hard seasons are chronicled in the Bible as the Jews faced exile, persecution, war, famine, and enemy after enemy seeking to conquer and destroy them.  And in all of these trials we see that the hardest of times exposed the best and the worst in character, and God chose servants and leaders from among His sinful followers and accomplished through them great feats that they could never accomplish on their own.

It is tempting to think there has been some mistake and we don’t belong here.  In a sense that’s true, “If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” (John 15:19).   We shouldn’t feel like we belong.  We should feel tension and discomfort with the world around us.  If everything is going smoothly and we meet no opposition, we should consider which direction we are walking.  But there is no mistake, the Lord has a purpose and plan for us in whatever time and place we are living, and that is very important to remember when we feel discouraged and fearful for our future and the future of our kids.  “And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. (Acts 17:26–27).  Our children have been born at the exact place and time they need to be in order for them to seek God and know Him.  That is a promise we can cling to when we feel fearful and uncertain of what the future is going to bring for our kids.

Our love for our children of course leads us into wanting perfect lives for them, void of any suffering or hardship.  But when we look back at our own lives, what has driven us most to our knees and to our Savior?  Is it not our trials?  As painful as it is to watch our kids struggle, if we shield them from all adversity it will be to their detriment.  We see again and again throughout scripture that God uses suffering and trials for our good;  “we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:3–5).  If our kids need anything to face an unknown and uncertain future, it’s hope. 

You may recall the story of Esther.  She was in captivity when she was chosen at a young age to be the queen to King Ahasuerus.  In an uncertain time, in an uncertain place, where her own people were made enemies in the land she was living, Esther had the choice to stand up for what God was calling her to and speak up, or remain silent and bow to the enemy.  Esther’s first response was fear, for she knew the great risk before her if she did what God was calling her do.  She was risking her very life.  But her uncle Mordecai compelled her, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews.  For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and you’re your father’s house will perish.  And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”  (Esther 4:13-14). 

We may fool ourselves that we will escape trial and persecution by remaining silent, but the truth is that a reckoning is eventually coming for us all.  God gives Esther the strength she needs to move forward with the truth in boldness.  It wasn’t easy for her, she wasn’t given an escape or an easier, alternate plan.  Esther remained in a hard place, in an uncertain time, the very time and place God put her so that her voice and her boldness could be used to save many of God’s people. 

How will God use our kids?  He has brought them to a time such as this.  Are we going to shield them and keep them safe and afraid?  Or will we give them all of our support and spur them on in the courage and strength of the Lord?  I do not know what’s coming.  I worry for my kids.  My natural inclination is to shield them from all the hardship and dangers of this world.  I would love for them to be around only like-minded Christians and not have to face the ridicule and opposition they face in this world.  But God has a good plan for them, He is trustworthy and good and He determined everything about the place and time they are living so they can have the closest relationship with Him and be used to affect those around them.  That truth changes my heart from fear to hope and excited expectancy as I wait to see what amazing things God is going to do in their lives. 

When our hope is fastened to a good, wise, sovereign God, uncertainty becomes opportunity and we can look forward to all the great things God is going to accomplish through our kids in the days to come.