John 12:16
His disciples did not understand these things at first, but when Jesus was glorified, then they remembered that these things had been written about him and had been done to him.
One day it’s all going to make sense. The up’s and the downs. The victories and the defeats. The heartbreaks, disappointments, and setbacks. Why this road and not the other. Why this job and not the other. Why one prayer request was granted, and another seemed to be denied. What good came of a tragedy and what evil was avoided that you weren’t even aware of. The answers to all of life’s questions will eventually glorify God and build-up His Children. We are hindered in our ability to understand in this present life, but one day, those hindrances will be gone:
For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now, we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. 1 Corinthians 13:9-12
The disciples must have had many “Ah-ha!” moments, especially on the other side of the resurrection and once they were being aided by the Holy Spirit (Jn. 14:26). Have events in your life ever taken on clarity long after the fact? As we mature in Christ, so does our wisdom and understanding, and that impacts our ability to decipher events in light of God’s Word. I often say, “Nothing gets wasted in God’s economy.” All things work together for His glory as well as our good (Rom 8:28) and we can set all of our questions up against that solid rock. Do you trust God’s providence in your life? In the life of you family, friends, and fellow Christians? In the life of this nation?
I don’t like loose ends. It seems million and millions of others don’t as well…at least if you consider the growth and success of Netflix and Amazon Prime. Both of these streaming platforms have mastered the use of the cliffhanger to rope viewers back for another episode…and then another season…and then another series that creates the very same kind of reaction. It seems that it is in our nature to want to have loose-ends all tied up. That is certainly true with the undulations of life on a fallen world.
C.S. Lewis used that word (undulation) in his classic book, The Screwtape Letters, as a way to describe the natural up’s and downs of the human life. He also used it to mock us and spoke gratifyingly of our tendency to fail in our faith just before God was about to do a wonderous thing…if only we had held on a bit longer. I’m not sure how accurate that assessment is, but it is certainly a good reminder that God will indeed tie-up every loose end eventually, and once we can see it all, we will glorify his name all the more.
Amen and Amen.
