During times of ambiguity we want things to clear up,
we want answers, we want understanding, we want resolution, and we want it now.
Some of us don’t perform well during times of uncertainty.
There are, however, two compelling reasons why we should exercise patience,
keep the anxiety in check and patiently endure the difficult time:
(1) God wants us to know that He is in control of our lives
(2) and will act in love towards us at all times
even though it may not seem so at the moment, and
God wants us to learn through the experience, to grow us in some important way.
Practising patience during times of ambiguity in our home culture means
the skill will be available for us to cope with the ambiguities of the new culture.
– “Cross Cultural Servanthood: Serving the World in Christlike Humility”
by Duane Elmer
In our world today, we plan vacations up to 12 months in advance, arrange meetings back-to-back, and jot every reminder, errand and appointment into our smartphones with immaculate efficiency. Travel time, lunch, and even birthday reminders are computed into our nifty gadgets, acting for us like a second brain.
It is no wonder that ambiguity frustrates us.
When I read about this term “tolerance for ambiguity” in this book about cross-cultural missions, it struck me, that the reason for our frustration and disconcertment with uncertainty, is because we are used to plan, execute and live our lives with such mechanical and efficient precision.
Time and predictability are of essence.
It’s no wonder the past few months have been an unusual drain on our mental and physical capacities, as we navigate through uncertainties, transitions and unknowns before entering this longer term of missions. It was, to my great relief, to read this, that an exercise of patience in our everyday lives is actually a form of preparation for us to cope with the many unknowns in the mission field. Could this season of uncertainty actually be profound and purposeful training?
Where will we stay? Who will pay our bills? Who will support us financially and in prayer? These are questions with no steady nor instant answers. But it is precisely in times like these that help us exercise trust, patience, and faith in a God who may appear but will not remain silent.
In our short trip to Uganda, He revealed to us His goodness- answers to prayers which were whispered and uttered and pleaded day after day, night after night, with no sign of being answered. Months passed, before we saw how He placed medical advisors, “random” situations, blessings in the form of unexpected phone-calls and schedule “interruptions”, to answer our prayers for Cliff’s health to be looked after, for us to find a community of missionaries, for us to get along with the people there, and to find ministries which dove-tailed with our giftings. These answers were not instant. But the appreciation of these tarried answers developed through travailing in prayer over not days, or weeks, but months.
A friend was bemoaning his frustration in planning an upcoming medical mission trip, as replies from the overseas developing country were perceived to be tardy, and at times, truncated or unclear. Such are the realities of cross-cultural servanthood, and I am learning, that if we allow these unexpected courses to frazzle and disturb us, we will always see the people we serve as interruptions, irritations and threats to our well-planned, predictable lives which we command to run like clockwork. The author writes, “Tolerance for ambiguity allows us to persevere when criticizing or running away is what we prefer.”
What are you going through right now?
Are you waiting for a job interview result,
waiting on God for an unanswered prayer,
pondering over the future while standing at the cross-roads
while struggling hard not to be overwhelmed by the stress of ambiguity?
Take heart.
Know that God is developing patience, trust, and faith
in a good God who may appear but will not remain silent.
When time has sufficiently tested our character,
He will reveal who He is,
and His consistency to deliver His promises on time, and not late,
will not fail to amaze us.
God’s faithfulness, will be unambiguous.
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,
because you know that
the testing of your faith produces perseverance.
Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete,
not lacking anything.”
– James 1: 2-4