I’m confused. How about you? Black used to be black and white used to be white. Now I’m being told orange is the new black and gray has fifty shades. I remember a time when the news was the news and for the most part it could be trusted. It didn’t come in our favorite flavors like it does today, and Tinsel Town reflected our values, not dictated them.

What is the truth?

Confusion is nothing new. Adam and Eve were confused. Why hadn’t they thought of eating this wonderful forbidden fruit God had placed within their reach earlier if it was going to make them just like God? An agent of the counter-culture ended their confusion by convincing them up was down, and down was up.

Pontius Pilate was confused when the religious leaders brought Jesus to him, a man of whom he said, “I find no basis for a charge against him.” Why kill an innocent man? Pilate expressed his confusion with a question for Jesus; “What is truth?”

New York City Pastor Jon Tyson of The Church of the City, sums up this current age of confusion better than I can in a recent sermon. Here’s an excerpt:

“We have the rise of gay rights, and the rise of the alt-right at the same time. We have the first African American president in our history followed by the election of Donald Trump. We have the loss of religious liberty for bakers and pizza shop owners, and the election to the Supreme Court of a pro-religious liberties Supreme Court justice. There’s the decline of the church and rise of the “nones” and the rise of mega churches and celebrity pastors. A pastor in his early twenties is told to step down because he makes a move on a seventeen-year-old girl – heartbreaking and tragic. At the same time in Hollywood, “Call Me By My Name” is a film celebrating a relationship with a teenage boy, underage, and a man in his twenties at the same time. We have the “me too” movement rushing through our world at the exact same moment that “Shades of Gray”, picturing sexual domination of a woman, is the fastest and largest selling book amongst women of all time. We have the rise of hate speech and the defending of free speech. We have the normalization and obsession with technology and a desire to get rid of it in our lives at the exact same time. Is there anyone here that understands what is happening in our world?”(Click here to listen to this sermon in its entirety: “Controversial Compassion“)

King Solomon, the wisest man that ever lived said, “There’s nothing new on this earth. Year after year it’s the same old thing (Eccl 1:9 MSG).”He’s essentially saying, “If what’s happening today confuses you, just look back fifty years or look ahead fifty years. You’ll find the same old confusion, just in different flavors.”

But here’s the good news. While our culture turns upside down, God remains right-side up. When I’m confused, He’s not. Orange is not the new black to Him. He invented both colors and black is still black and orange is still orange, regardless of what Hollywood screen writers, congressional committees, or Supreme Court Justices say.

Paul reminds us that, “God is not a God of confusion but of peace (1 Cor 14:33).” Hebrews 13:8 tells us that, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” King David reminds us that understanding doesn’t come from cultural norms or observation. It comes from the steadfast truth of God, as he prays; “Oh Lord; give me understanding according to your word! (Ps 119:169)”

Many find it hard to believe that the great evangelist Billy Graham experienced a time of confusion during his early ministry. It’s stated this way in his autobiography Just As I Am:

“He walked into the woods and set his Bible on a stump – more an altar than a pulpit – and he cried out: “O God! There are many things in this book I do not understand. There are many problems with it for which I have no solution. There are many seeming contradictions. There are some areas in it that do not seem to correlate with modern science. I can’t answer some of the philosophical and psychological questions others are raising. Then he fell to his knees and the Holy Spirit moved in him as he said, ‘Father, I am going to accept this as Thy Word-by faith! I’m going to allow faith to go beyond my intellectual questions and doubts, and I will believe this to be Your inspired Word!'” (source)

I’m actually encouraged by the fact that even Billy Graham was confused. That gives me hope. Billy Graham got up from his alter in the woods and proceeded to speak face-to-face to over two hundred million people about the thing he wasn’t confused about – the love of God through His Son Jesus Christ.

How about you? Are you ready to put your confusion on the alter and go with the truth you know, trusting God with the parts of the truth that confuse you? Are you ready to allow the faith you do possess to go beyond your intellectual questions and doubts? You can trust the Truth – “the way the truth and the life” – or wallow in confusion. God is kind enough to let us choose.