Mark Sayers has written a fascinating book called “A Non-Anxious Presence”.  If you feel yourself becoming increasingly anxious by all the changes our world and your life has undergone recently, I highly recommend it.

In the book, he contends that our world has entered a “Gray Zone”.  He borrows the term from the world of 21^st century warfare in which it is becoming increasingly more difficult to determine when a war begins and when it officially ends.  A gray zone is the in-between space, the space and time between an old thing and a new thing.  Here, the old thing isn’t totally gone, and the new thing isn’t totally here.  It is a marshy, swampy, brackish time in which the ocean and dry land meet, but neither has total command over the terrain.  To use Sayers’ own words:

“Gray zones exist in the overlap of two eras.  They contain the influence of both the passing and the forming era; this makes gray zones confusing and contradictory.” (Italics mine)

“Confusing and contradictory”

I don’t know about you, but ‘confusing’ and ‘contradictory’ do a great job describing what I’ve felt over the past few years.

The world we once knew isn’t here anymore and yet, wherever we're heading, whatever is coming, doesn’t seem to be here quite yet either.  We find ourselves in a liminal space with no clear destination or timeline for what’s next, only that there’s no going back to what we’ve left behind. 

While these gray zones tend to create very real worry and anxiety in people’s hearts, we would do well to remember that navigating these gray zones is precisely what God has uniquely prepared his people to do. Think about the overarching story of scripture:

·       After God led Israel out of Egypt, but before He led them into the Promise Land, He led them into the wilderness – gray zone.  (Exodus and Numbers)

·       After God led Israel into exile because of their sin, and before He brought them back to rebuild their land, He taught them how to live as His people in a land that was not their own – gray zone.  (Jeremiah 29)

·       After Jesus was baptized, and before He began His ministry, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Devil – gray zone.  (Matthew 3-4)

·       After Jesus was raised from the dead, and before the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the church, the disciples were instructed to wait for power from on high, unsure of what that meant, when it would come, or what that power would do – gray zone.  (Acts 2). 

All throughout the Bible, God has used gray zones to prepare his children for what is next.  Why? 

Because the gray zone is where we learn to trust God.

Precisely because everything in the gray zone is confusing and contradictory, anything we’ve trusted in other than God is now in question.  The gray zone is the place where the lies of our false gods and the limits of our false selves are exposed as imposters and pretenders.  However, because of these newfound revelations, because of how the veil of reality is exposed during these times, much of how we experience these seasons depends on how we posture our hearts before God. 

Gray zones can be a place of deep healing or of hopelessness, but ultimately, that depends on us.

If we choose to see only what we’ve lost, the gray zone will become a place of great despair, where like the children of Israel we groan for the meat pots of our Egyptian captivity.  (Exodus 16:3)

If we choose to see only what we can’t control, the gray zone will become a place of great fear, where like our tragic forbearer Cain, we’ll buildup physical, emotional, and spiritual fortifications that cut us off from God, each other, and even ourselves.  (Genesis 4)

If we get too comfortable in the gray, embracing the ambiguity as if that’s all God has for us, we risk becoming like the people of Babel, settling into what’s comfortable as we seek to make a name for ourselves rather than blessing the name of Jesus Christ.  (Genesis 11)

This is a confusing time.  This is a contradictory time.  We are in a gray zone.  But in the end, we get to decide whether the confusion and contradictions we’re experiencing will increase our love for and dependency upon Jesus or upon other, lesser things. 

As you decide for yourself and as we decide as a church how we will posture our hearts in this season, I invite you reflect on this promise of scripture that has been stirring up hope and holy imagination in my heart:

And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.  (2 Corinthians 9:8)

Did you catch that emphasis on the word 'all'?

In all things

At all times

Having all you need 

Now did you catch the part where the exception to this all-encompassing promise is when we’re in a gray zone?  Yeah, I didn’t either. 

In all things and at all times – that means now – in this messy, confusing, contradicting gray zone. 

There’s a lot we don’t know right now, but we do know this – God has given us everything we need right here, right now, to abound in the good work He’s calling us to.

Let’s get to work.