“Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.” 
Hebrews 11:1, CSB

I’m cheating on my word this week. Partly because I somehow have this verse memorized using the word unseen even though all the versions I checked say not seen but also because unseen is one word and not seen is two. I mention a verse later that uses the word unseen so, really, I’m only half-cheating. 

My ability to split the hairs of technicality is not what today’s post is about, though. 

My life is changing. My eldest child is preparing for the next phase of her life. Conversations now revolve around college choices and possible futures and driving responsibilities. We’re lifting rules and restrictions instead of adding them. She’s making sure she has the skills to handle her own forms and bills and official situations. 

We are all preparing for the reality that is hoped for – that she will have a smooth, confident transition into adulthood and the rest of her siblings will follow. 

Future Nerves

The actual future, though, is unseen. I don’t know what struggles she’ll face and if she’ll be prepared for them. I don’t know if the relational foundation we’ve built will glide as smoothly into the next phase of parenting as we all hope it will. I don’t know if the plans we’ve meticulously prepared for will be successful. 

I don’t know if I’ll be able to handle not having to do things for her anymore. As she gains freedom, so do I, and my future is as unseen as hers is. 

Tomorrow is shrouded in a cloudy curtain we can’t see through. We will never be able to know for certain what is coming our way. 

I’ve struggled with that, lately. It seems that every time I step forward and the next piece of life’s path is revealed to me, it doesn’t go where I thought it would. Or it’s rocky and uphill instead of flat and smooth. Or it didn’t reveal as much of what’s next as I would like. 

How we think about the unseen reveals what we put faith in. 

The Place for Faith

Are we putting faith in our plans? In our preparations? Are we preparing to cross a river and then becoming paralyzed or even angry when we come to the edge of a ravine instead? 

God and I have been having a lot of conversations lately about my difficulties with the unseen. Certain choices may look wise in my limited vision, but what do I do when the Spirit rests heavy on me and shows that God desires me to make a different decision? 

We put faith in what we hope for. We hope for things that are unseen because if we could see them, we would know. (Romans 8:24-25)

What, then, are we to do as we must live in the seen moment of now but step boldly into the unseen moment of tomorrow? 

We focus on what we know, and while we don’t know what’s coming with our next step, we do know the end of the path. 

“So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:18

Oh, the layers we uncover when we realize that what is unseen is what truly matters. 

The love we show to others lasts longer than the award they see us win. 

The strength of our convictions will see us through more struggles than our disaster preparation kits. 

The heart of our relationship with God matters more than our outward service to Him. 

Seen and Unseen

We cannot neglect the seen. God has charged us with the care and upkeep of this world, our lives, and those around us. We work, though, in light of the unseen, with faith in what God will one day bring about, with an assurance of a new heaven and a new earth at the end of our uncertain path. 

When people have anxiety and panic attacks take over their physical body and mind, they are told to ground themselves in what is seen, in what is tangible and real and true. The heart and soul was not made for this physical world, though. They are unseen and eternal. So perhaps when are are troubled, when the future scares us, we should ground our souls in the unseen that is real and true. 

We can stand in the faith and knowledge that we are ultimately held by God. He’s already on the other side of the future we can’t see. Nothing tomorrow is going to surprise Him. 

That can make the unseen just a  little less scary and our hearts just a little more patient. We can’t know the future right now, but we can know the One who knows the future. 

And we can know that we are never unseen by Him.

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