"I don’t know. These three words acknowledge the fact that we’re uncertain about something. And sometimes it’s not that big of a deal because we’ve been asked, “What do you want for dinner?” But you feel a lot more pressure when this is your answer for the following kinds of questions: Should I move somewhere else or stay here? Should we buy a house or keep renting? Should I marry him or hold out for someone better? Is now the time to change jobs? What school will be best for my teenager?

When the answer is “I don’t know” to these kinds of questions, it can drive us crazy and put so much pressure on us to make decisions. Today I want to answer a question we have all had before and one that we will all come face to face with in the future:

‍What do you do when you don’t know what to do?

Here are some things we tend to do when facing uncertainty:

-Do nothing.

-Medicate or numb ourselves in some way. Too much drinking. Too much ice cream. Too much Netflix.

-Freak out. Just completely lose it.

-Sometimes all of the uncertainty causes us to actually quit doing some of the things we know we should be doing.

Today I want to give you a plan for the times when you don’t know the plan. Believe it or not, there are quite a few things you can do when you aren’t sure what to do. I want to encourage you to take some notes today because I know you are going to end up in so many future moments where you won’t know exactly what to do. Big Idea #1:

‍Spend the rest of your life seeking after God.

This is the best thing you can do each day, whether you’re in a season where there’s great clarity or a season that’s full of uncertainty. Determine that no matter how much certainty you have in life, you will give yourself to seeking to be a woman or man after God’s own heart.

Psalm 27:4 One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.

God knows that certainty would eliminate much of our need to seek Him. This invitation to seek God is available to all of us, no matter where you are on your faith journey.

‍Matthew 6:32-34 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

We can run after all of the uncertain things or we can run after God. God knows what we need and He knows how and when to give it to us. And know that we aren’t just seeking God to get the plan…we’re seeking God to get God. 

We can worry about tomorrow or we can seek the God who holds tomorrow.

When we don’t know what to do, it’s so easy to get consumed with the thing we’re trying to figure out. Jehoshaphat was king of Judah in the 800’s BC. When he became aware that an army was coming against them, listen to what he did.

2 Chronicles 20:3-4 Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the LORD, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. The people of Judah came together to seek help from the LORD; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him. 

Rather than freak out or just react, he resolved that they would inquire of God and seek him. He goes on to pray to God and here’s the last part of his prayer:

2 Chronicles 20:12 Our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.

What if this becomes our go-to phrase when we find ourselves in a season or moment of uncertainty? God, I don’t know what to do but my eyes are on you. As you parents make tough decisions for your children: God, we don’t know what to do but our eyes are on you. When we as a church don’t have clarity for the future: God, we aren’t sure what we’re supposed to do, but our eyes are on you.

As the lead pastor of Epic, I have great clarity about what we should do in a number of areas. But can I tell you a secret that I hope doesn’t worry you? There are a few things right now where I just don’t know what we should do…YET.

Here's the second thing we should do when we don’t know what to do:

Do what you know to do.

Just because we don’t know what to do in some areas of our lives doesn’t mean that we don’t know what to do in any area of our lives. While God hasn’t told us everything He wants us to do with our lives, He has told us so many things He wants us to do with our lives.

This is why we must invest time in getting to know the general purposes of God for our lives. God always wants us to love Him with all we are and He always wants us to love our neighbor as ourselves. He always wants us to abide or dwell in Jesus. He always wants us to be led by the Holy Spirit. 

Don’t let what you don’t know keep you from doing what you do know.

Here’s the next thing to do when you don’t know what to do:

Engage your wisdom table for discernment. 

Lindsey taught about this idea on September 4. You need a wisdom table and so do I. These are people who know God well, know you well, want the best for you, and they have experience discerning God’s will for their own lives. 

Tell them what you’re trying to figure out or decide on. Invite them to ask you questions. Give them permission to point out things that you might not be seeing. Ask them to be praying for you and to share any idea or promptings they receive.

Here’s the fourth thing to do when you’re unsure what to do:

‍Normalize waiting on God in your life. 

We think we’ve done something wrong when we aren’t able to discern God’s plan right away. We live with the expectation that if we’re doing this right, we’ll always know what to do – without having to experience any delays. But waiting on God doesn’t seem to be reserved for just a select few. Waiting seems to be the common experience for every great story in the Scriptures. We’re all going to have to wait in seasons of uncertainty. Will we wait mostly with anxiety or mostly with confidence?

‍Psalm 27:13-14 I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. Wait for the LORD, be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

There are times to wait, but there are also times to move forward. 

‍Has the absence of complete certainty kept you from moving forward in your life?

Here’s something you can do, even when uncertainty is present:

Do what seems to flow out of what God has generally called you to do.

When you don’t have certainty about all of the specifics, you can still move forward if you know the general calling God has placed on your life. I feel like so many of us get stuck or paralyzed, because we often just do nothing unless we know with absolute certainty what we should be doing. There’s a story that illustrates this so well from the life of Paul. Paul was called by Jesus to take the message of Christianity and spread it. Paul decides to go to the most strategic cities he can think of to expand the movement of Jesus. He’s traveling from town to town, seeing people put their faith in Jesus, and starting churches. And then we read this in Acts 16:

Acts 16:6-10 Paul and his companions traveled throughout the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been kept by the Holy Spirit from preaching the word in the province of Asia. When they came to the border of Mysia, they tried to enter Bithynia, but the Spirit of Jesus would not allow them to. So they passed by Mysia and went down to Troas. During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

I love this story. Paul didn’t just sit around waiting to have specific visions or total certainty. He knew what his life was to be about, so he just went for it. He believed that God could shut any door he wasn’t supposed to be opening or that God was able to redirect him to the place He actually wanted him to go.

I see too many of us sitting on the sidelines until we are certain of what God is calling us to do in our lives. What if we allowed our current understanding of God’s will for our lives to lead us to move forward? I’m afraid we’ve put so much pressure on ourselves to not get this wrong, that oftentimes we do nothing…which is wrong. I know that waiting on God is part of the process, but so is moving with God when it’s time to go.

Two months ago, my wife Shauna became the Network Director for Northern California for Alpha USA. How did this happen? How did she know this was exactly what God had for her? She didn’t know exactly, but here’s what she did know. She hadn’t worked full-time in 16 years. But she had developed into a strong leader. She had gotten to know that God had given her a unique gift for sharing her faith with non-Christians. She had been the Alpha director here at Epic. So she went for it. And what are the chances, in God’s perfect timing, that her first day on the job would be the day after our youngest child started high school?

In your life, do you tend to wait too little or too long?

Where is God telling you to wait?

Where could God be telling you to stop waiting and move forward? 

While there is so much we don’t know, let me tell you what I do know.

Seasons of uncertainty provide a unique opportunity to grow our faith in God.

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.

You don’t have to understand everything to trust God. God is able to make your paths straight.

I want to invite you to put your trust in Jesus, even though you don’t know all the places this decision will lead to in your life. Jesus, I trust you. Save me from a life without you and lead me into a life with you.

Prayer over everyone who knows they’re in a season where they don’t know what to do.

Seek. Eyes on you, God. Do what you know.