Have you ever felt like the world is running out of control? Like life is out of control? Nothing seems certain anymore – and those fears and uncertainties just eat away at you.

I recently went to see Al Gore’s movie, ‘An Inconvenient Truth’. Now it’s a documentary about climate change. Whatever you’re politics, whatever your views on matters green are it’s an absolute must see.

He makes the point that the number of category four and five hurricanes and cyclones has almost doubled in the past thirty years. The flow of ice from glaciers in Greenland has more than doubled over the past decade. Malaria has spread to higher altitudes in places like the Columbian Andes, seven thousand feet above the sea level. At least two hundred and seventy nine species of plants and animals are already responding to global warming, moving closer to the poles.

It paints a picture of a world out of control, so bent on consuming that we’re prepared to destroy our planet. Now for many people, life is out of control, not only big picture issues but in our private space. And despite all the commercial bravado, quiet confidence is a commodity in very short supply. So how do we live a confident life in uncertain times?

When I was growing up the thing that we were afraid of was the cold war of the Americans and the Russians blowing one another up with their nuclear bombs, but these days it’s terrorism, it’s global warming, its poverty. Problem’s so big and so complex that the average punter like you and me we look at them and we see them as completely and absolutely out of our control. We can’t make a difference.

Okay, we sponsor a child, so what does that mean when twenty five thousand a day are dying of starvation and disease? Twenty five thousand children a day! And so because these geo-political issues are so big and so complex and so out of our control we retreat to our own personal world, it becomes all about me and my comfort and my conditions.

Now to be sure if you’re living in poverty, in a sense that’s not an unreasonable position. But for the wealthy it becomes about the next plasma screen and the next entertainment system and the next car. Sociologists call it cocooning, they try and wrap themselves in these cocoons of luxury to kind of get away from all these big picture global issues that seem so big and so complex and so out of control.

But even amidst that, people have this feeling of centre-less-ness. Ultimately the me, me, me thing doesn’t work, we know that! But it doesn’t stop us from getting hooked, and so people en masse are searching for something. En masse we feel like exiles in a foreign land, exiles in search of an identity. And amongst all of that, irrespective of where we are in the socio-economic scale whether we’re have’s or have not’s, we go through adversity still, we go through worries and anxieties and those things gnaw away at us.

Worry and anxiety and uncertainty are a very, very real thing that’s eating away at people right across the globe. And here’s what uncertainty’s all about, a focus on the small picture which is all about me, there are so many things outside my control that I just can’t impact on.

For the poor, it’s about food today and shelter and life itself, for the wealthy they’re still worried about not having enough and jobs and promotions and marriage and kids and stuff. Wherever we live, whoever we are the list of uncertainties and worries is endless and so we have no peace and no joy and no quiet contentment, and so life goes on in this downward spiral, can I say that’s really, really sad.

I was having lunch with a man called Barun, from Bangladesh in India just recently, this man has such a tough life, real poverty, not enough food, but he had that joy and peace and contentment that I’m talking about. And that’s a challenge for me because I come from an affluent society, yet this program gets to be heard all round the world, all different cultures, all different contexts, rich and poor. But this pervading sense of uncertainty has no borders, it has no boundaries. People look in all sorts of weird and wonderful places to make that go away; they’re looking for something solid as a rock.

This week, (humour me) we’re going to look at this whole big, ugly, issue of uncertainty from A Different Perspective. If we don’t understand history it’s bound to repeat itself, and this week I’m looking at a letter two thousand years ago by a man called Peter, an Apostle of Jesus Christ, to a bunch of exiles who had an uncertain future. Here’s what, just the first few opening lines says:

From Peter an Apostle of Jesus Christ to the exiles of the dispersion scattered through Pontus and Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen and destined by God the Father, and sanctified by the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with His blood. May grace and peace be yours in abundance.

Now this Peter, his name, the name given to him by Jesus because he was previously called Simon. Peter the Greek word Petros means ‘rock, solid’ and Peter was, Peter was a strong guy. And he’s an apostle of Jesus Christ, someone sent out with the message of Jesus Christ by Jesus Himself. And he’s writing to the exiles of the dispersion, men and women and children who have fled from Jerusalem and Judea because these people were being persecuted terribly for their faith. They’re scattered right across the known world, they’re exiles, they’re in the world but they’re not of the world, but here’s what he says about them:

You who have been chosen and destined by God the Father, God’s planned for this before time began.

You know what happens when we’re going through uncertainty? We think, “Well God can’t possibly be in this, if God were in this my life would be wonderful!” But here are a group of people who are going through shocking persecution, they were being tarred and torched by Roman Emperors, right. They were being thrown in with lions they were being killed in the most horrible ways and Peter’s writing about them and saying, “You have been chosen and destined by God the Father.”

This is God’s plan before time began, God is in this place with you and what’s more you have been sanctified by the Spirit, in other words set apart, cleaned up, made wonderful and pure and useful and holy for God’s purposes. Right in the middle of your exile, right where you are, chosen and destined clean by the Spirit, forgiven through Jesus Christ, may grace and peace be yours in abundance.

Now that’s the exact opposite of fear and uncertainty, I mean these people were thinking, ‘Am I going to die tomorrow, what’s my life look like are the Romans going to come in a feed me to the lions?’ He speaks right into our nagging uncertainty with a quite confidence that comes from God. These three pillars, God’s purpose, plan before time began; God’s Spirit dwelling in us, setting us apart; God’s Son through whom we have forgiveness.

Do you get it, this letter is to exiles under persecution, this letter from Peter the rock sent by Jesus Christ, not just to God’s people scattered in Pontus and Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia, but right here and now to you and me. Peter, a man sent out by Jesus Christ Himself to the exiles of the dispersion in Australia and New Zealand and South African and Cameroon and Ghana and Denmark and Singapore and China and Rwanda and wherever you are this very moment.

You who have been chosen and destined by God the Father and scrubbed clean, made holy, set apart for God’s purposes by the Holy Spirit to be obedient to Jesus and sprinkled with His blood and forgiven. May God’s grace and God’s peace be yours in abundance right in the middle of your exile, here and now.

Have you ever felt out of place? A bit like an exile in a foreign land; like you don’t belong. We all feel that sometimes – and you know something, my hunch is that God’s in that thing somewhere …

You know right at this very moment there are somewhere between fifteen and twenty million refugees in the world today. In the nineteen seventies there were about three million, that’s staggering. The richer we become, the more we know, the more things we discover that can benefit humanity, the worse it gets.

And you know even people who aren’t displaced have a sense of being refugees sometimes, exiles in a foreign land, it seems somehow that we’re not connecting with the world around us, somehow like, well, we’re in the world but we don’t belong to it. It’s almost like refugees, like exiles, confronted with uncertainty, confronted with obstacles and challenges and for so many people that feeling never, ever goes away. They’re like refugees in search of an identity that they never find.

Whenever I speak about uncertainty people think, “Great Berni’s going to be talking about how to get rid of the things that cause uncertainty.” Because in a perfect world there would be no uncertainty. But we don’t live in a perfect world.

The list of things that we can worry about is about as long as our arms and then some. From sheer survival, to passing our exam; from whether our child will make it through this sickness, to whether we’ll get that next job or promotion or whatever we applied for.

And that uncertainty so often leads to fear and that fear crosses all boundaries and all borders, and if you think about it, if there were no uncertainty there would be no need for faith. Have a look at what Peter writes. He wrote this, the Apostle Peter, almost two thousand years ago. It comes from his first letter, First Peter, chapter one verses 1 and 2:

Peter an Apostle of Jesus Christ to the exiles of the dispersion scattered through Pontus and Galatia and Cappadocia and Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Holy Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ and to be sprinkled with His blood. May grace and peace be yours in abundance. 

Who is he writing to? To the exiles of the dispersion, these were early believers, early Christians who were scattered to the four winds by persecution. Now when you look at what God did – you know, Jesus came and He had the whole Christmas thing and then Jesus grew up and He preached mightily and He healed so many people and He did miracles, He walked on water, then He was crucified but He rose again and He ascended into Heaven and then God started His church through these Apostles – it seemed like God has a pretty good plan. And Peter even says to these exiles that you’re chosen and destined by God.

So what’s going on? God has this great plan that seems to be unfolding and all of a sudden this terrible persecution falls on these people I mean it was really terrible stuff. They were being killed and tortured in the most horrible ways.

But you know something? No persecution, no dispersion! You know what we’re like. We get very comfy, “Great I’m saved I’ll stay in Jerusalem and Judea and together we can be saved, let’s huddle down here.”

But the persecution led to a dispersion of those Christians and as a result to the spreading of the good news of Jesus throughout the known world. It wouldn’t have happened otherwise and travel was really hard in those days.

You didn’t just book a trip and hop on a plane from Sydney to London or Sydney to Los Angeles. Back then trips took months and years and they were dangerous and they were uncomfortable. There was every reason to stay at home.

But the persecution led to dispersion and they were scattered like a farmer scatters his seed. New churches were planted, they grew, more people learned about Jesus. This was God’s plan, and its there right in what the Apostle Peter writes. Let’s read it again:

To the exiles of the dispersion scattered through Pontus and Galatia and Cappadocia and Asia and Bithynia, who have been chosen and destined by God the Father.

In other words, the people who were exiles, the people who were being persecuted and scattered, were God’s chosen people. God foreknew them! That’s an awesome thing. It applied to them then, and it applies to you and me now. Whatever we’re going through God planned you and me and our lives and every twist and every turn before the foundations of the universe were laid. And it was those chosen people, those very people who became exiles in foreign lands, just like us followers of Jesus Christ.

Now the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Philippians writes in chapter 3 verse 20 that if we believe in Jesus our citizenship is in heaven and that we’re in fact exiles in a foreign land. You know something it can be tough for exiles. But Jesus said exactly that when He prayed for you and me, just before He was crucified. You can read it in John chapter 17 – we’re in the world but we’re not of the world – Jesus specifically prayed:

‘Father I don’t ask you to take them out of the world but instead I ask you to protect them while they are here.’

We are exiles in a foreign land, but while we’re here God has a plan for us. Look at the Israelites, many centuries before what Peter was writing here when the Babylonians came and destroyed Jerusalem, they destroyed the temple, the place where God lived and so these Israelites got taken into captivity and slavery in Babylon. In Jeremiah chapter 29 beginning at verse 4:

This is what the Lord Almighty the God of Israel says to all those whom I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. Notice the words, ‘whom God carried into exile from Jerusalem and Babylon’. Build houses and settle down, plant gardens, eat what they produce, marry and have sons and daughters, find wives for your sons, give your daughters in marriage so that they to may have sons and daughters. Increase in number, don’t decrease, also seek the peace and the prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile.’ He says it again, its God’s plan.

Pray to the Lord for it because if it prospers you, you too will prosper, this is what the Lord says, ‘When seventy years are completed for Babylon I will come to you, I will fulfill my gracious promise to you to bring you back to Jerusalem, for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and then you will come and pray to me and I’ll listen to you, you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.’

In other words whatever our exile looks like, whatever our uncertainty, whatever our fears are, whatever the things are that are coming against us, God knows them. God carried us here. Sometimes you and I do stupid things you know, and we live out the consequences of those things. They’re not from God, they come from us. God’s there anyway. God knew anyway before the foundations of the earth were laid, God knew. He had a plan a plan to prosper us, a plan of certainty.

When we focus just on the sickness or the risk or the uncertainty and we mull that over and we turn it over and we just, you know how you lie in bed sometimes and you toss and turn and it’s just with you and you can’t sleep and the worry makes you sick in the pit of your stomach? If we just focus on that stuff no wonder we have a terrible life, but God is saying here, “Look, you’re my chosen people, you believe in my Son, I’ve destined you, I’ve got a plan for you, an eternal plan to bless you, for you to be with me.”

We can’t get rid of uncertainty, we live in an uncertain world. I don’t know whether I’ll be doing the program tomorrow, at the end of the day I might get run over, I might have a heart attack and die. I pray that I won’t but I might!

I can’t get rid of that uncertainty, but what I can do is do what Peter talks about in that really short letter, have grace and peace in abundance when I focus on the goodness of God, the God who is in control of everything in my life and everything in your life too.

Hope is a funny thing. It’s meant to be a certainty that something good is going to happen. But all too often, hope is replaced by uncertainty, doubt … even fears. Then, hope becomes something of a hit and miss affair…

Australia is a land of extremes when it comes to climate. I remember a few years ago, when going through one of the worst droughts on record. Farmers were been selling down their livestock. Some of them have even sold their farms. Suicide rates were up. There was an incredible impact on the economy. All because… It just wouldn’t rain.

It must have been so incredibly tough for the farmers – properties handed down through the generations. Every day the same thing – bright clear skies. Not a rain cloud in sight. Standing in the dust bowl – thinking, yearning in their hearts…”I hope it rains soon…” A funny thing hope… I hope it rains, but what does that actually mean?

Hope is a joyful and confident expectation that something good is going to happen, and when we lose hope, when we stop believing that that good thing is in fact going to happen it’s a tough thing, its easy for the farmer whose property has turned into a dust bowl to lose hope. That’s why suicide rates sky-rocket amongst farmers during droughts, it’s devastating to lose hope.

Hope, is the opposite of uncertainty. You know, when we hope in something we just believe in our heart of hearts that it’s going to happen but when we don’t have that hope anymore it’s a sad thing. When hope turns into uncertainty that’s really sad because hope is the opposite of uncertainty, at least that’s what it should be. Hope becomes a desperate thing instead of a certain thing. Hope is a fading thing rather than something that shines brightly.

I remember a time in my life when I lost all hope that something good would happen. You know it was such an incredibly dark place to be in. Hope is like a light in the middle of a storm. Uncertainty is this nagging fear, this sick feeling in the pit of your stomach, uncertainty drains the life out of you. We all need to hope in something, we all do hope in something because without hope we couldn’t keep going, without hope there’s no tomorrow. But what do we hope in?

I have a small bundle of shares in a company listed on the stock exchange and given the internet these days I can watch how the share price goes up and down by the minute if I want. It’s lovely to see the price go up a little bit and it’s disappointing when it slips a little but if put my hope in those shares, if I wrap my whole sense of financial security and future and depending on this little bundle of shares, well I’d go nuts, because the price goes up and down all the time, there could be a stock market crash tomorrow.

Who or what do we put our hope in? It’s important because that’s where we get our confidence from, that’s where we get our sense of stability, our optimism for the future. When life is going up and down like the share price in the stock exchange, if we put our hope in those things then our sense of confidence and uncertainty is going to wax and wane.

Two thousand years ago an Apostle called Peter writes a letter to some people who have been exiled through persecution, they’ve been dispersed. These were tough times they were incredibly tough, these Christians were going through brutal persecution and this is what he writes in the first chapter of his letter 1 Peter, chapter one verses 3-5, he says:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,’(what a strange thing to say to people who are being persecuted. But anyway it’s what he says), ‘In his great mercy He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish or spoil or fade. It’s kept in heaven for you, you who wait through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of that salvation that’s ready to be revealed in the last time, even though for a little while you’ve had to suffer some various trials!

Strange thing, these people are in the middle of persecution and Peter says, “Praise be to God.” Something we often don’t feel like doing because when life’s tough, when I’m down, when the drought continues I just want to sink into this morose thing and complain and worry. But we can make a decision today!

We can praise God in the middle of the drought; we can praise God in the middle of the exile; we can praise God in the middle of the difficult times because He’s up to something good. We can’t always see it, but actually it’s got nothing to do with whether or not the drought breaks, it’s got nothing to do with whether our circumstances change it’s something much bigger than that. Look at what he writes, we’re going to track our way through here.

In his great mercy He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

See in the middle of these people’s persecution, in the middle of their trials and their pressures Peter’s saying, “It’s not about what you’re facing it’s about God’s mercy.”

And you know something? God’s given you a new start, new birth a fresh start in the middle of it all, into a living hope, not some hope that’s faded, not some hope that will ever die, not some hope that waxes and wanes with the stock price or with what’s going on around us, a living hope, a certain thing, something that doesn’t ever fade or fail; because it’s based on the resurrection of Jesus, a historical fact and reality. And that’s going to happen to me one day, you believe in Jesus that’s going to happen to you one day!

Whether or not the drought breaks, whether or not God changes the circumstances that we’re facing at the moment, one day we will stand before Him with a new body, with a new life, with an eternal life because we have this inheritance that is being kept in heaven for us. It can never perish; it can never spoil; it can never fail.

It’s not like the stock price; it’s not like waiting for the rain to come to break the drought; it’s not like waiting for whatever it is in your life that’s causing you uncertainty and fear, to change. No, it’s not like any of those things. It’s an absolute certainty, something that we can put our confidence in. See if we put our trust, if we put our hope, if we put our whole desire to the future in people, in things, those people and those things one day will fail us; one day they will fall short; one day they won’t be what we expect them to be.

The only thing that’s certain, the only thing that we know, the only person who will never fail us is God. We know that because of what He did for us on the cross through Jesus Christ. He has given us a new beginning into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, that can never spoil, that can never fade, that is being kept in heaven for you. Who through faith are protected by God’s power until that salvation happens.

So on top of the fact that God is being merciful; on top of the fact that He gave us His Son; on top of the fact that I know that I too will stand before God when I leave this earth; the fact that I know I’m going to have an eternal life; on top of all of that we have God’s protection. In the meantime, we are being protected by the power of God, even though we have to suffer some trials, even though we have to go through difficulties.

I was with a man recently who was persecuted for his faith, who was locked up in jail, he was beaten, and yet he had a quiet confidence in his life, he had his hope placed in Christ. This man was living a confident life in uncertain times and to do that, well, it depends on what you put your confidence in. If we put our confidence, if we put our hope in things that are going to fail us we are going to live an uncertain life. But, if in the middle of all those uncertainties, if in the middle of all those trials, if in the middle of the fears and the adversities of life we put our confidence in Jesus Christ He will never fail us.

It’s a funny thing – but when what we believe doesn’t line up with how we live, then what we believe becomes less and less relevant. All of a sudden, faith … turns into a nagging uncertainty.

I talk to so many people who profess to believe this or that but when you look at their lives what you see is they live an uncertain life. For me, if I profess to believe that Jesus Christ died for me, if I profess to believe that I have eternal life through Him, which I do, you know something? I want to live confidently in that. Not arrogantly, no just a quiet confidence and assurance to know where I’m headed, to know that I’m safe and no matter what life throws at me.

For me there needs to be a connect between my faith and my life, what I believe and what I do. And my hunch is when those two aren’t lined up it becomes kind of hard to have any confidence in what we believe, because it’s so different from what we’re living and experiencing.

I read this on a web blog called reallifepreacher.com, it really spoke to me, this is what the anonymous author writes,

“God I don’t have great faith but I can be faithful, my belief in you may be seasonal but my faithfulness will not, I will follow in the way of Christ, I will act as though my life and the lives of others matter, I will laugh, I have no greater gift to offer you than my life, take it.”

Do you know why I like that? Because it talks about a faith that’s alive, you know what we believe in our heads and our hearts sometimes it does wax and wane, sometimes we do have questions, but what this person’s saying here is that, that might happen but I know I can be faithful. You know my beliefs might be seasonal a bit but my faithfulness will not. I will follow you with my life.

It’s about living out faith, it’s about living out hope, I mean what’s the point of believing in Jesus and not living as though we do? Why do we do that? It’s simple because we focus on what we can see; our minds and our hearts are trained to react to situations and circumstances like Pavlov’s dogs. Faith on the other hand is the gentle assurance of something we hope in, the conviction of something we can’t see.

So many people live their life like a candle in the wind, like a cork bobbing around the ocean blown this way, blown that way, and at the same time their moving lips and they utter the words, “Well I believe in Jesus.” Don’t get me wrong I’m not having a go at anyone I’m just plainly and honestly setting out just how it is, setting the scene if you like for God’s answer.

God has a plan; God’s plan is that we should live a confident life in uncertain times. Over the last few programs we’ve been looking at a letter from the Apostle Peter to a bunch of Christians who were persecuted in the first century and so they fled and they were dispersed right through the known world and he deals with this, this disconnect between what we believe and how we behave this way. He says:

Therefore prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled, set your hope fully on the grace that is given to you when Jesus Christ is revealed as obedient children. Don’t conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance but just as He who called you is holy so you be holy in all you do.

Whenever you see a little passage start ‘therefore’ you’ve got to think, “Well what’s he pointing back to, ‘therefore’ what? Well actually he’s pointing back to what Jesus did for us, he’s pointing back to the certain living hope, he’s pointing back to this, he writes these words earlier.

He says, ‘Praise be to God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ because in His great mercy He’s given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish or spoil or fade, kept in heaven for you who through faith are being shielded by God’s power.’

So he’s pointing back to that, he said because of what God’s done for you, because of what Jesus did and because of this inheritance and because of this new hope, therefore prepare your minds for action, be self-controlled, discipline yourself. It’s actually time to say, “You know, I’m going to be transformed by the renewing of my mind, I’m going to start thinking differently.”

God is talking here through Peter about bringing our actions into line with our faith, on a priority of focus, on this living hope this sense that I’m going some place. “And one day I’m going to stand in glory before Jesus, before God, I’m going to live the rest of eternity for ever and ever and ever with Him. I have a place where I’m going, my life is on track and you know something on the way I’m going to prepare my mind for action and because of what God has done I am going to change.”

Now look at what Peter’s saying again, let’s read it again:

After we change our minds, after we prepare our minds for action and we get self control happening, set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed, in fact put all of your hope fully in the glory that we will have on that day that we stand with Jesus, His goodness, His forgiveness.

How much of our hope? All of our hope in the grace of Jesus. Now it’s interesting he now goes on and ties our thoughts and our hopes and our dreams to what we do as obedient children:

Don’t conform to the evil desires that you had when you lived in ignorance but just as He who called you is holy so you be holy in all you do.

Why should we be holy? Because if what we believe and what we do aren’t lined up we’ll go with what we do every time.

Let me give you a small example. Before I became a Christian, I mean all my adult life in my career and even now in ministry, I do a lot of flying. I’m often on planes and I guess I’ve flown thousands of times. Before I became a Christian I used to hate turbulence, not because I felt sick, I’ve got over that, because of the fear.

You know when you’re in a plane, (if you’ve ever been in a plane) and its gets really bumpy you know, really up and down, I used to grip the arms of the chair and my knuckles would go white. You know after I became a Christian God really convicted me the next time we hit turbulence in a plane God really spoke to me and said, “So who are you trusting? Who is your trust in? Because if your trust is in Me,” God said to me, “Then stop doing the white knuckle thing.”

And it was exactly what Peter’s writing here. If I’m going to put all of my hope in Jesus Christ, I actually have to change my mind. And so this involved my mind, it involved saying, “I am going to change my mind about this,” and then bring my actions into line with my faith. Of course there’s some uncertainty. I mean, is the plane going to fall our of the sky? Maybe but probably not.

But you know something what I believe and the one in whom I believe is more important than doing this white knuckle thing. And so I decided that I would prepare my mind to be ready for action and I don’t do the white knuckle thing anymore and in fact I just sit through them and I have a genuine peace because my hope is in Jesus Christ. You know something; if that place crashes I’ll just be with Him a little bit early.

And that’s a pattern that I’ve followed in so many parts of my life. First thing, get the mind prepared for action, just get our mind sorted out and say, ‘I’m just not going to go down that road anymore, I’m just not going to think that thought anymore,’ and then to bring our actions into line with what we believe.

It’s a critical point. If we react to things with fear, if we react to uncertainty, if our mind starts racing away all we have to do is deploy our mind, get ready for action and say, “You know something God, this is hard, but I’m going to bring my actions in line with my faith, why? Because of the hope that I have in the grace of Jesus Christ.”

God has a plan; He wants us to have a confident life in uncertain times.

We’ve all heard that saying about lying straight in bed at night. It turns out that the way we live our lives has a lot to do with our sense of confidence, or alternately, the uncertainty that we feel in our heart.