In the apocalyptic novel The Road, the father says to the son, “If trouble comes when you least expect it then maybe the thing to do is to always expect it.”

In the year 2020, how can we do anything but expect trouble? A pandemic. Racial injustice. Financial crisis. Unprecedented unemployment. Those are the big things, but they affect all our little lives.

If 2020 has taught us anything, perhaps it’s taught us to always expect trouble. Doing so saves us from disappointment when it arrives at our doorstep like the latest Amazon package. We live in a fallen world. We can’t deny that now. Even our pretty things are stained. Our hopes marked with despair.

So, what do we find as we look at the storyline of the Bible in the midst of the pain of our world? Not what we would expect.

An Unexpected Journey

Who signed us up for this journey? I don’t remember the application. I remember the registration for my sons’ baseball season. I remember the “Agree” button at the bottom of the screen. However, I don’t recall signing on the dotted line for the suffering that this year’s contract delivered.

We’re all Bilbo Baggins now. That wonderful character from the mind of J.R.R. Tolkien in The Hobbit didn’t know what was knocking on his door when he opened to find Gandalf and a dozen dwarves. He wasn’t looking for an adventure.

As you may recall, Hobbits don’t particularly like adventures. Maybe you don’t either. Too late now. You’re in it. Welcome to your unexpected journey.

The problem with journeys such as this is that we don’t particularly care for the ones we don’t choose, and who chose this year? We were going along with life, weren’t we? Yes, some of us were suffering mightily before, but most of us? Probably not. We were like Bilbo when Gandalf first arrived: “‘Good Morning!’  said Bilbo, and he meant it. The sun was shining, and the grass was very green.”

The day was bright and full of hope. Settled in our shires, we were content to stay.

God had other plans.

There and Back Again

Where are we going? Who can say? The road still stretches out before us. One step at a time, we’re making our way there, wherever “there” is.

Is “there” a COVID-19 vaccine? Is it a restoration of pay at work? Is it equality our country never gave? Maybe “there” is different for us all, but we can’t get there without all of us. “We’re in this together,” we hear. So why does it feel like we’re so far apart?

All many of us want to do is go back to the way things were, but we’ve left those shores. We can’t even see them now. A new normal approaches, one we can’t figure out, and one we may not particularly like, but one that is as sure as tomorrow’s morning.

As with all journeys, we won’t be the same after this. Suffering always leaves scars, and the deepest scars never go away. Loved ones will tragically die. The twists and turns won’t make sense. We will wonder if maybe this is the end.

Does the road we’re on now have anything but trouble? Are even our altruistic pursuits, like racial equality, hopeless?

We’re looking for something to tell us this will all work out in the end. We call these “uncertain times.” The truth is we never have anything but uncertain times. Our times are not in our hands; they’re in the hands of God. What we’re really looking for in the uncertainty of our times is the certainty of God.

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