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Unshakable Hope in Uncertain Times

Writer's picture: Debbie Salter GoodwinDebbie Salter Goodwin

You feel it, don’t you?  An unsettling fog blinds us from seeing very far ahead.  The fog is a chaotic mixture of uncertainty, disenchantment, and disbelief mixed with anger. Wars continue. Natural disasters destroy what we thought was protected. Families fall apart. Political leaders make devastating decisions.  It leaves us grieving loss everywhere.

What can we do to make it better?  What can we do to bring back the order God created? “Where is the joy?  Where is our hope?


I’ve pondered and prayed over the debilitating negativity all around us.  While there are no easy fixes, there is a God-honoring way to reorient us to what God knows and sees instead of what we know and see. It spreads hope and peace, but not because of any change in the circumstances that plague us. It is wrapped up in two mighty words: God knows. 

I try to make these two words the first words I think about when I am confused, scared, or angry about something. They protect me from my “little picture” of the world and remind me there is always more than I see or understand. I take a deep breath and simply pray these two words—God knows!


No matter what needs to change around me, I believe God wants to bring change in me first.  If all I do is pray around the world and never pray about my heart, I can miss the most important answer.  God wants to work in me so that I can recognize the small changes He works around me. Whether it is about my circle of the world or the larger world, God knows.  When that is enough for me, peace takes over in my heart.  My perspective changes.  I start looking for signs that God uses everything to make something new come from it. 


So, how do we pray for this kind of change when leaders at any level do not follow God’s ways of bringing peace and justice to the world? 


  • We pray that world and local leaders will use their authority in God-honoring ways.

  • When they don’t, we pray confidently that God still knows how to work His plan by using or defying whatever others do in their name instead of His.

  • We respectfully use avenues open to us to bring about God-honoring change.

  • We refuse to use anger, sarcasm, put-downs, or off-color humor. Such practices add darkness to the world, and we are to be light-bearers.

  • We pray that our actions and attitudes will not hinder God's work in us and around us.


I have learned the hard way that how I pray and what I pray influences what I think and say.  I have more peace when I pray a prayer that reminds me how God is in control.  No one usurps His power.  No one deters His plan.  But that doesn’t mean I see the change I want.  It does mean I trust our Almighty God to do all things right.  This leads me to the prayer that brings more hope to my heart than anything else—Lord, I believe you are working beyond my ability to see. Help my unbelief to believe as well.


We need each other in these uncertain days, but we need God even more. We must double down on the most important truth our world needs to hear: God is in charge. The more we believe He is, the more peace we will find.

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