TD Jakes — Living With Uncertainty
Today we're going to deal with the most provocative subject. I believe it is very, very important. The message is called "Living With Uncertainty". When you are going somewhere unfamiliar, that alone is stressful. Without any incident or accident happening along the way, just the feeling of not being sure is stress all by itself. But there is a way to live with uncertainty and still be rooted and be grounded and be strengthened. And I want to share with you how, for the next few moments, living with uncertainty.
We have so much trouble with "for we know not". Can you imagine how much more humble everything would be, how much you would learn and grow if you could just get to the place that you say, "I don't know. I don't know, Lord"? But we are so afraid of "I don't know" because I know is my idol and it makes me look good in front of you. And I'm worshiping at the shrine of my own opinion even if I have to kill everybody up under me for not lining up with what I had in mind. And by the time I realize what I had in mind is not how it is, look at how many dead bodies you left behind you because you wouldn't say, "We know not".
I was doing 120 'cause I didn't know. I didn't know any better. And I thought I knew. Now that I know, speed limit is my friend. It's cool. Don't want me to go over 70, cool. I want to live more than I want to win this race. Experience brings humility. And humility brings you to we know not. There is no room for God in a mind that's full of self. And that's why you can't worship. You come to church and you can't worship.
How many of you say hallelujah and thank you Jesus, but you don't really put your heart in it because your heart is so full of you that you can't get you off the throne long enough to say he reigns? Because he doesn't reign in you, you reign and your opinion reigns. That's why the people who worship the best are generally broken people, people who have messed up, people who have botched up, people who have been through hell and back, people who have made mistakes, people who are ready to humble themselves. They don't worry about what you think, they don't worry about what they got on, they don't worry about whether you like them or not. They've already made enough mistakes that they're ready to turn it over to the Lord and say, "God, it's in your hands. If you don't do it, it can't be done, for we know not". Say it, "For we know not".
These may be the most powerful words in the entire text. "For we know not". Do you not know? Let me take you backwards, and then I'm going to take you forwards, and then I'm going to take you home. Do you not know when God gave the Ten Commandments, he already knew we were going to break them? In fact, while he was writing them, we was breaking them. We was dancing naked around the calf while he was saying that we should not worship no other God. We were already doing it while he was writing it, so you know he didn't write it to keep us because we broke it before we ever saw it.
But when Moses comes down off the mountain with the Ten Commandments, the first mistake Israel made is they said, "This we will do". They said, "We got this". Do you not know when God gave them the Ten Commandments, he also gave the plans for the Tabernacle? The Ten Commandments are the standard and the Tabernacle is the escape. It's blood, atonement, it's grace, it's the lamb that dies in your place. So he gave them the plans for the Tabernacle with the Ten Commandments because he already knew that we know not.
The problem was instead of us taking the way of escape that he had supplied, we stood up to the law and said, "We got this". And so the law was weak through the flesh. It wasn't weak in that it was wrong. It was weak because it had to come through the flesh. Your relationship may not be weak, it's just that it's got to come through the flesh. It's got to come through your ego. It's got to come through your childhood. It's got to come through your insecurities. It's got to come through your image. It's got to come through your need to control everything and everybody who comes in your life. Instead of saying, "We know not".
And I used to think that loudmouth, boisterous, outgoing, clamorous people like me were more apt to be control people, but not necessarily so. I found out some of you quiet folks is manipulative as you can be with your quiet, nice self. And just as sneaky and manipulative and controlling. But you do it in such a cool way that it makes me feel like I'm bad, you know. You cannot worship when you're in control and you cannot win when you're in control because God's plan cannot be given to somebody who has something else in mind. So what you keep doing is trying different versions of your tactics, expecting a different result, but you really have never humbled yourself to say, "We know not".
See, we know that the whole creation groans and we know that all things work together for good, but we've never gotten to the middle part, where we say, "We know not". And that's where the glory is. The glory is always in the middle. You remember when God designed the Tabernacle? Those of you that's been in this church a while, I've taught a lot on the Tabernacle. And he had on the mercy seat, he had the cherubim on this side and he had the cherubim on this side. And the glory fell... oh God. See, it's in the middle where the glory falls. It's in the middle where shekinah glory is manifest. It's not in what you know. That's not where the glory falls. It's in what you don't know. That's where the glory falls.
When you say, "For we know not," that's the mercy seat. The mercy seat's right down where you will admit that you don't know. God can't take control as long as you're in control. The moment you step out of the way, you have given God a seat to take control in your life. But because you're running everything, you never come to the 26th verse, you're stuck in 22 or 28, bragging to everybody about what you know. But when you humble yourself and say, "We know not," then God's strength is made perfect in... Oh, y'all don't hear what I'm saying. Oh, I feel like teaching this thing. I'm going to teach it until somebody gets it. I'm going to teach it until somebody catches on fire. I'm going to teach it until somebody's life explodes with the blessing that God has for you.
God wants to give you glory right in the middle. Touch your neighbor and tell them, "God wants to give you glory right in the middle," right in your uncertainty, right in your chaos, right in your confusion, right into your tears, right while you're crying, right when you're vulnerable, right when you're scared to death, right when you come to God and say, "God, I'm too old to have this baby". That's when you get pregnant, right when you come to God and say, "Lord, I'm in a drought". That's when he says, "Dig ditches in your valley". Right when you're saying, "Lord, I can't heal myself," that's when he says, "Touch the hem of my garment". Right in the middle of your life.
Touch somebody and tell them, "I need God to get in the middle of this". I need God to get in the middle of this before I wreck this thing, before I mess this thing up, before I destroy this thing. I need God in the middle. The beginning is good. He saved me by his blood and by his power. And the ending is good. I've got a seat over in glory with my name on it. But where I need God is in the? I need him in the middle. I don't need him for what I know. I need him for what I don't know. I need him for my insecurity and my doubt and my vulnerability. And I don't know how my story is going to end. And I don't know whether I'll survive this or not. And I don't know how I'll come out of surgery.
And I don't know and I don't know and I don't know and I don't know and I don't know. But I'll tell you what I do know. All things work together for the good of them that love the Lord. And I need him. I don't know how to be a young man, I need him. I don't know how to be a middle-aged man, I need him. I'm in the middle of my life. I need him more now than I ever needed him before. I need him in my midlife crisis. I need him as I transition from being a young man to older man. I don't know how to be an old man. I never saw anybody do it. All the men in my life died, so show me how to do this midlife thing. I knew how to do that young thing. I don't know how to do this midlife thing, where everything's changing and everything's moving and I don't know how to do it. I knew how to be a good wife as a young woman, but I don't know how to be a good wife and be menopausal. 'Cause by the time mama was menopausal, daddy was gone.
So how do I keep my man in the middle? I know how to start a church. I know how to retire. I know how to end strong. Reverend died preaching that Sunday. He was preaching and he went home to be with the Lord. I know the beginning, I know the end, but this middle is killing me. And the middle is killing me because we know not. Seeing all kind of people dying all around me, I don't know when it's my turn. I know not. And every day I got to drive under pressure. I got to get up and go to work under pressure. I got to raise the kids under pressure. I got to buy the house under pressure. And all the while I'm trying to lead people. I cannot tell them that I know not.
What I'm talking to you about is living with uncertainty. The question is, has God made provision for my confusion? I get so tickled at people, especially on the news, when they start talking about people being hypocritical. I don't know anybody who's not hypocritical. I have not met anybody who is not in some way hypocritical. I have not met a trainer that won't eat a piece of cheesecake every now and then. These are the dietetics you should eat. That has too much protein and that has too much crabs. And about five, da-da-da. And be back in the corner, cramming sweet potato pie every now and then.
I'm not talking about all the time, but every now and then, we break the rules we make. That's why the kids are mad at you 'cause they live with you. They get to see you make rules that you break. You should see how you all looking at me. It is funny. You think my face is funny? You should see yours. They get to see your confusion. And the art of raising them is to learn to love conflicted people or you don't love at all. If your standards are that high that they have to be flawless to love them, you will die alone because everybody's a little confused.
Has God made provision for our confusion? He absolutely has. And that's what the text is all about. The writer in Romans is trying to get us to understand that when we know not-- when we say we know not what to pray for as we ought, then the provision steps in, which is the Holy Spirit. But the Holy Spirit cannot step in to a guy who won't say we know not. Can I teach this this morning?
See, it's no need for me to teach you about the intercession of the Holy Spirit because the intercession of the Holy Spirit will not work against the arrogance of humanity. Until you give up your arrogance, you're not a candidate for intercession because you're trying to get God to intercede in an area where you've already made up your mind. You're trying to get God to intercede about something that you already have a picture in your mind of what it ought to look like. If you don't get to we know not, you're never going to get to where the Holy Spirit makes intercession because there's no vacancy in your courtroom.
You're sitting on the bench, "Order, order in the court". You don't need intercession. How can the Holy Spirit intercede where you're in control, where you already know, where you already got it fixed, where you straighten everybody out, where you're always the teacher? If you're always the teacher, you're going to run out of things to teach. It's only when a teacher is forever a student that the class is exciting. And if you don't have the ability to transition roles, you run out of gas. If you don't keep learning, you can't keep teaching. This is simple, but people don't get it.
So God says, "If you will say we know not what to pray for as we ought, I want to dig into that". Uncertainty is painful. Do you love me? Do you really love me? It's painful. Am I doing this right? Do I have it together? I have to trust you to even ask the question because I won't even ask the question if I don't trust you because I'm afraid that you'll take advantage of my uncertainty. Am I on the right track with this one?
So God said, "I already knew you was going to be scared. I already knew what you were up against. I already considered your end from the beginning. I know about your childhood. I know how you were raised. I know about your vulnerabilities. I know about your incompetence. I know about the areas in your life that you hide from everybody else". And he said, "I've made provision for it. My Holy Spirit comes fully equipped and loaded to get you through the process, to carry you from Alpha to Omega, from the beginning to the end, from the first to the last". And everything in between, God says, "I got you".
God says, "My name is Jehovah-Jireh. I am your perfect provision. I've already provided not only to get you to the destination, I have provided for the moments of discomfort in the middle. Already knew you'd get to 30 and be scared to death. Already knew you were going to mess up your credit. I already knew you were going to have that abortion. I already knew you were going to blow your first marriage, already knew you were going to have that same sex experience. I already knew your deepest secret. I already took that in consideration when I called you, when I created you, when I set you aside. I have known you. I have searched you. I know all about you. There's nothing you can hide from me".
You can hide from your mama, you can hide from your wife, you can hide from your girlfriend, you can hide from your husband, but God said, "I've already searched you. I know your thoughts afar". While you're getting your head together, God said, "I knew your thoughts when you were getting them together. I know you". And God says, "I have what you need in the Holy Spirit, but I can't give it to you because you're so locked into impressing people with what you know that you come to church, but you haven't made room for me to sit down. You haven't given me a seat. I can't have a mercy seat in your life because you will never say, 'For we know not.'" God says, "If you would say, 'I know not,' then the Holy Spirit would come and make intercession for you".
Can I go into this a little bit? See, in order to be an intercessor, you got to be able to speak. So away with all these people who tell me that the Holy Spirit is just energy and not intellect, that he's just power but not language. That's like taking me to court, Judge Johnson, putting me up on trial, and I got one witness, and the witness can't talk. I got one witness that can plead my case for me and now you're telling me that the Holy Spirit doesn't speak anymore. If the Holy Spirit doesn't speak anymore, I am going to hell 'cause I'm guilty as homemade sin. And my one witness that can get the charges dropped has got to be able to speak for me.
I was pastoring this church and my mother had just passed. It was just maybe about 3 or 4 months ago. And I had a grief that I'm even scared to talk about now, a grief that was so deep, so deep I can still feel her turning cold in my hands. My grief was so deep and so encompassing. We had talked about it, we had planned on it. When it happened, it almost killed me. I couldn't get it out, I couldn't get it out the right way, I couldn't get it out the wrong way, I couldn't get it out.
Joseph Garlington came to the church, he wasn't even teaching on grief or anything. He was teaching on praying in the Spirit. And when he started talking about praying in the Spirit, something happened to me. Something got way down, see, way down. Where I was hurting was real deep. Cards didn't get it, flowers didn't get it, sweet potato bread didn't get it. All the stuff they brought me, it didn't get it. When your pain is real deep, you need something real deep that can go down in there and pull that thing up by the root. Glory to God, do you understand what I'm talking about? I was hurting so bad and I was having to pastor. And I was broken, my wife was broken. Her mother had died a year or so before. And I was broken and the cameras all in your face, people running up and looking you all in the eye. You can't breathe. But when he started saying that about the Holy Spirit and how he will speak, I dropped down to my knees right there where I sit and start praying in my prayer language. Sing hallelujah.
See, a lot of you have a prayer language, but you don't know how to use it. And you haven't used it for years. And the reason you have a language that you stopped speaking in is because you're sitting on the throne. But when I finally got to the place where I said, "Lord, I give up this stronghold. I can't run this. I can't stop death. I can't stop car wrecks. I can't stop disaster. I'm not God after all. I may have the biggest office in the building, but your office is bigger than mine, and I'm turning it over to you because you are able to fix things that I cannot fix myself".
And the Spirit of God down inside of me started speaking. I don't know what he said. I can't tell you how long he said it. All I can tell you is that while he was talking, grief started coming up out of my spirit. All I can tell you is the more he spoke, the better I felt, the more yokes broke in my life, the more healing came in my spirit. I don't know who I'm preaching to today, but God has made provision for your confusion. You cannot consume worship and worry at the same time. One has to give way for the other. I suggest worship as an antidote to anxiety and stress. And when you worship God, it reminds you of who you are and whose you are and who is in you to strengthen you and to keep you from those turbulences that attack your soul. May God's grace strengthen you and bless you. Ah, don't worry about it, everything is going to be all right. Take care.