What To Do When We Can’t Understand God

What To Do When We Can’t Understand God
“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” – Romans 11:33
How many times do we say or hear the words, “I don’t understand why God would allow this bad thing to happen to His child”? God’s ways are above our ways and His ways are outside the realm of our understanding. It helps us to understand that we have a solid reason to accept what God does even though we can’t understand the reason for His workings. We can’t trace His hands but can know that we can trust His heart. When we can see and accept His love, we can accept His ways, though we may not understand them. His ways are past finding out!
We live in a fallen world filled with suffering people and bad things are happening all the time to good people. Imagine the grief of the people of Ukraine in the middle of the carnage of war. Women, children, and innocent people are dying with many mothers grieving over their precious child having their life snuffed away because of an evil dictator! Imagine the times the word, “why” is asked by the grief stricken, in that war torn Country.
While we do not understand the ways of God, we can trust the Character of God and know that His love never fails, even when we hurt. My earthly father had a rough exterior and a deep voice. My wife once said that when she first met him, he scared her. She found out that he was basically “all bark” and really a kind and loving person. I knew my father’s character and accepted that his words and ways were really not a true reflection of his gentle loving heart. He whipped me as a child but I never doubted his love!
The best thing we can do, when we don’t understand God’s ways, is to remember His Character. A loving God has a reason for all He does. His promises remind us that He provides our needs, leads us in right paths, and our earthly sufferings will be overshadowed by the future glory of His child. When it comes time to leave this world, we will be in God’s presence and, furthermore, the death of His saints is precious. We tend to measure life by length but God measures it by depth. We can accept what we are unable to understand and be encouraged by the fact that one day, when we see Him face to face, our thrill will overcome our “why”!
Chuck Peters – 3/30/2022