Will we always understand?

I think that’s always the question I want answered every time I come up against something.

“Please let me understand, Lord!”  I cry.

But will we always understand why we go through trials?  Will we understand why bad things happen in our lives?

The answer, my friends, is sometimes.

I usually think back to the verse in Deuteronomy when these times come up in my life:

The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.  (Deuteronomy 29:29)

God reveals some things to us (like the Bible), but some things he does not.  We will never know everything, even when we die; we will never be all-knowing.  That is for God alone.  I usually think that if we actually knew everything, God revealed everything to us, that our brains would probably just explode.  We were not made to be God.  We were made to be humans, his creation.

Then I think back to Job, and the above Bible verse fits so well.  In the whole book, Job never finds out why God allowed all the things that happened to him.  Actually, when Job questions God directly, this is God’s response:

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?  Tell me, if you have understanding.  Who determined its measurements—surely you know!  Or who stretched the line upon it?”  (Job 38:4-5)

God certainly put him in His place.  He actually questions Job like this through chapter 39.  I don’t think that it’s wrong to wonder why things are happening, but Job (and his friends) questioned the rightness of God.  That’s where we can get into trouble, when we begin to ask, “Why did God do this terrible thing?”

The other thing about the book of Job that stands out to me is that although we see the interaction between God and Satan, we never find out why God allowed Satan to do the things to Job.  There is never an answer to why Job went through all those trials.

There are many times I wonder why God allowed the serpent into Eden, why Jesus had to be sent to die for our sins, and why, as believers, it has to be hard for us.  I don’t understand.  It doesn’t make sense to me.

I have a feeling that I will never know the answers to those questions.  And really, if I knew the answers to those, would it even change anything at all?  My life as a Christian is based on faith—a trust in something that is not proven.

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.  (Romans 5:1-5)

So while I might not understand why things happen, I will keep my faith.  I  still have a lot to learn to be able to readily rejoice in my sufferings, because I still find it hard not to question, “Why?”  But the more I bury these verses in my heart, I think I will grow steadily closer to being able to rejoice when I go through trials, even when I don’t understand.

As I close this series, I want to remind you of the ten lepers that Jesus healed.  They all cried out that he was Lord, Jesus healed them, yet most of them did not come back to Jesus.  They had everything there for them to believe, including Jesus physically there, and yet only one out of ten came back.  Does knowledge ever really increase our faith or our walk with God?  I really don’t think so.

On the way to Jerusalem [Jesus] was passing along between Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” When he saw them he said to them, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.”  (Luke 17:11-19)

Join me next week as we start a new series!

through His grace alone!

Sarah