The news moves fast, emotions run high, and the future feels harder to predict than ever. But what if the real issue isn’t what’s happening in the world, what if it’s where we’re looking when everything feels unstable?This message by Mark Finley begins with a surprising insight about uncertainty and takes you to a moment in Scripture that unfolded during national crisis, political collapse, and growing fear.What’s revealed in that passage reframes who is actually in control when everything appears to be falling apart.

The news moves fast, emotions run high, and the future feels harder to predict than ever. But what if the real issue isn’t what’s happening in the world, what if it’s where we’re looking when everything feels unstable?This message by Mark Finley begins with a surprising insight about uncertainty and takes you to a moment in Scripture that unfolded during national crisis, political collapse, and growing fear.What’s revealed in that passage reframes who is actually in control when everything appears to be falling apart.

Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.

HopeLives365

Mark Finley

The News Isn’t in Control, God Is

The future can feel quite uncertain at times.

Sometimes we look to the future with our plans and they're very, very well defined.

Other times we look to the future and we're not quite sure about it.

Sometimes we have a pretty good idea of what we desire.

But then something unexpected happens and our lives are interrupted and the future that we planned is not there at all.

Now Daniel Gilbert is a psychology professor at Harvard University.

Americans are smiling less and worrying more than they were a year ago.

He tried to figure out why indeed was that happening.

The real problem is not our economy, The real problem is not our finances.

People don't know what is going to happen next.

They wonder, will I have a job next week?

People just don't know what's going to happen and that's the uncertainty that really troubles them.

There was an interesting Dutch study that was done and in that Dutch study people again realised that it's uncertainty that is causing our problems.

Now here's a study that comes from the Gallup Poll that I'll talk about before I talk about the Dutch study.

So When Gallup Poll studied Americans, they found out this.

The black lines represent the negative emotions that people are having.

Worry, stress, sadness, physical pain, anger.

Then they took the green lines, so all the black lines were up in our society.

And then the green lines represent sleep, people getting less sleep.

They represent smile, laughter, people are smiling less.

Enjoyment, they're enjoying their lives less.

And so you go on and you look at it and you say, why, what is happening?

Why is it that sadness is up and disappointment is up and laughter and joy are down in American society.

And so Daniel Gilbert was trying to figure that out.

Now in this Dutch study, they took 20 people.

And in the study, with these 20 people, they said, we're going to give you shocks, and we're going to shock you.

All the shocks for the first 20 will be of the same intensity.

So you're going to get shocked, but all the shocks are the same intensity.

Then they took another group of people, 20 people, and they said to them, We're going to shock you again 20 times.

17 of the shocks will be the same intensity, but 3 of them will be worse.

The 20 people who knew the shocks would be the same intensity or the 20 people who would get 17 shocks that were not very intense but 3 shocks that would be much more intense.

Obviously, it was the people who were uncertain.

They did not know at all when their shocks were going to come.

When those shocks came, They just cried out because they didn't know when the shocks would be intense and when they wouldn't be so intense.

How can we embrace the future When life throws at us so many uncertain shocks, how can you thrive in uncertain times?

There's 1 thing certain about the future.

How can we thrive in unsettled times, in times of rapid change, in times when things are so unstable?

This morning, I invite you to travel back with me 700 years before Christ.

We're traveling to the book of Isaiah to discover how to find certainty in uncertain times, how to find confidence in uncertain times.

Isaiah, the sixth chapter, 700 years before Christ.

Isaiah chapter 6, and we're looking there at verse 1.

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of his robe filled the temple." Uzziah began to reign when he was 16 years old.

He led Israel in prosperity, in preeminence, in promise.

His armies gained all the territory that they lost in future years.

Commerce revived, riches flowed into Jerusalem, cities were rebuilt and fortified, Jerusalem was prosperous, but it lost its spiritual power.

As often happens in times of peace and prosperity, Israel became complacent in spiritual things.

Their worship services became cold and formal.

Great time of prosperity, but a great time of spiritual apathy.

The priests were greedy, they were consumed with getting welt.

Isaiah brazenly entered the temple, where only the priests were supposed to do, and as he enters the temple In disobedience and rebellion against God, he gets leprosy.

The Assyrian king, Tigur-Pelaser, had attacked Babylon in 745 BC and he kept moving closer and closer to Israel.

As he did, he conquered as much of Asia in 744 BC.

His armies march to the border of Judah, but there was 1 who stood against him, Isaiah.

743 BC, he attacks, comes even closer and still closer to Israel.

The Israelites are trembling with uncertainty because Tiger Pallasser, with his mighty armies, is ready to attack and destroy them.

The people of God are anxious and worried, everything is unsettled.

At this crisis moment, God gives Isaiah a vision.

And in that vision, Isaiah writes in Isaiah 6 verse 1, in the year King Isaiah died, I saw the Lord high and lifted up, sitting on his throne.

An earthly king was dead, but the king of kings was very much alive.

The earthly throne was empty, but God still reigned on his throne.

An earthly kingdom faced an uncertain future, but there was nothing uncertain about the promises of God.

There may be uncertainty on earth, but God is still sitting on his throne.

Conflict after conflict, tense nations look at 1 another with the eyes of war.

And for many people, these are very, very, very uncertain times.

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The News Isn’t in Control, God Is

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