We Won’t Understand All, But We’ll Trust More

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We won't understand fully, but we'll trust more

I used to sometimes hear a song titled “Farther Along.” The chorus said:

Farther along we’ll know all about it,
Farther along we’ll understand why;
Cheer up, don’t worry, live in the sunshine,
We’ll understand it all by and by.

The stanzas talked about temptations, trials, toil, death of loved ones, and seeming injustices with the comfort that someday, when Jesus takes us home to heaven, we’ll understand it all.

The Bible does tell us to encourage and comfort one another with the truth that someday we’ll be with God in heaven where there is no sorrow, pain, or death. It also assures us that although we only know in part now,  “then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12). I’m sure a lot of things will make sense then that don’t now and we’ll know exponentially more than we do now.

But I don’t know if we’ll understand everything that God did and allowed while we were on earth. Because He will still be God and we still won’t be. He is omniscient, and we will never be.

This is just speculation, but I think we’ll experience something of what Job did. Throughout the book bearing his name, Job wished he could plead his case before God. When God finally spoke to Job, He really didn’t answer his questions or tell him why he suffered what he did. He pretty much just shared how He took care of creation.

If you’ve ever wondered, as I have, what God’s discussion of animals had to do with Job’s suffering, Layton Talbert suggests in Beyond Suffering: Discovering the Message of Job, “By belaboring this point with Job, God unveils one of His divine qualities. The Lord is powerful and majestic and wise beyond man’s comprehension, but He is also compassionate . . . even towards beasts. He talks as if He has intimate knowledge of their nature and needs because He does. That’s the point” (p. 206).

Somehow that was enough for Job. He responded, ““I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted. . . .  I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:2, 5-6).

Even though Job’s suffering wasn’t explained to him, his encounter with God humbled him, silenced his questions, and inspired his worship.

I think it might be much the same for us.

I’ve often wondered if God will show us in heaven some of the behind-the-scenes activities of our time on earth: how a frustrating delay kept us from a fatal accident, how a closed door to a seemingly perfect opportunity guided us towards God’s best. We see parts of such things now, the “edges of His ways,” as Job said (26:14),  but I am sure there is much more to God’s working and guidance in our lives than we realize here.

We struggle to trust Him perfectly now. We know from His Word, from testimonies of others, and from our own experience that He is good, wise, kind, trustworthy and so much more.

But there is still much that doesn’t make sense to us. Why that venture failed. Why our loved one died so early. Why that nagging disease that took up so much time, thought, and energy was part of His plan. We trust that He really does work all things together for those that love Him (Romans 8:28). But we still wonder why certain things happen as they do.

Perhaps God doesn’t explain everything because He wants to increase our trust and dependence on Him. Perhaps we wouldn’t understand even if He did explain, just as a child won’t understand why he can’t have ice cream before dinner or why he has to stop playing and go to bed. I love what John Piper wrote in his poetic version of Job, The Misery of Job and the Mercy of God: “Beware, Jemimah, God is kind, In ways that will not fit your mind.”

Elisabeth Elliot wrote in On Asking God Why:

There are those who insist that it is a very bad thing to question God. To them, “why?” is a rude question. That depends, I believe, on whether it is an honest search, in faith, for his meaning, or whether it is a challenge of unbelief and rebellion. The psalmist often questioned God and so did Job. God did not answer the questions, but he answered the man–with the mystery of himself.

He has not left us entirely in the dark. We know a great deal more about his purposes than poor old Job did, yet Job trusted him. He is not only the Almighty–Job’s favorite name for him. He is also our Father, and what a father does is not by any means always understood by the child. If he loves the child, however, the child trusts him. It is the child’s ultimate good that the father has in mind. Terribly elementary. Yet I have to be reminded of this when, for example, my friend suffers, when a book I think I can’t possibly do without is lost, when a manuscript is worthless.

“God did not answer the questions, but he answered the man–with the mystery of himself.”

I don’t know if we’ll ever understand all the mystery of God, even in heaven. But when we see Him, we’ll be “lost in wonder, love, and praise,” as the hymn says.

When we see Him, whatever doesn’t make sense to us here won’t matter. Our faith will be sight. Our trust will be perfect.

May we be growing toward more perfect trust even now as we behold Him through His Word.

1 Corinthians 13:12

(I often link up with some of these bloggers.)

31 thoughts on “We Won’t Understand All, But We’ll Trust More”

  2. Lots to think about here. I’ve often thought that when I get to heaven, I’ll ask God “why this” and “why that”. I wonder though, if when I see Jesus and am with Him, If I’ll even care. All those questions may just evaporate. But right now, on earth, we do question. And so we trust. Great post.

  3. I love the train of thought you’ve got going here, Barbara. “When we see Him, whatever doesn’t make sense to us here won’t matter.” I think so too… what a comfort that is!

  4. I think, too, that possibly the questions/issues we think were so important may not interest us any longer once we are in His presence in eternity. So often I read something and want to talk about it with the person in the room with me. Because they were busy, I saved it for chatting about later. But when I return to what I’d saved, it seems not as interesting or worth discussing at all.

  5. Dear Barbara

    I have been following your blog for a while now, and just want you to know that your articles have often been used by God to encourage me. May the Lord continue to bless and use you in this way.

    Love in Jesus

    Carol Rossouw (from Namibia)

    • Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Carol. That’s my greatest heart’s desire with this blog, to encourage others in Christ. It’s such a joy and blessing to know that He uses what He’s taught me to bless others. I’m so glad to know you’re out there reading. May God bless you.

  6. I love that Elisabeth Elliot quotes and agree: it is very much about the way you take your questions to God that matters… but still we often won’t know everything. That bugs us in our information-age minds, but the limitation is a good one that can push us to the One who does know all things. What a great reminder, Barbara!

  7. Such a good post, Barbara. Our finite minds make it impossible for us to fully understand the holiness of God this side of heaven, which causes us to wonder about these things, just as Job did. My heart fully trusts that once we are on the other side and realize the holiness of God that the things we questioned this side of heaven won’t even enter our mind. We will be absorbed in worshiping our King.

  8. Good, meaty thoughts here! I often think life in heaven will be similar to this life in the same our life in the womb is similar to current life — when we were in the womb, we couldn’t really understand what life on earth would be like. In the same way, now we really can’t fully understand heaven (I’m aware that this analogy may not be correct, but it seems reasonable to me). Thinking in the same way, in heaven I’m not sure we’ll care that much about the details of life on earth, which is over at that point. It’s interesting to think about.

    • That sounds like a good analogy to me. I think Elisabeth Elliot once said that if we knew any more about heaven now, we wouldn’t be able to get anything done for the anticipation.

  9. Maybe it’s about living in the mystery, this life thing? When I think about living in the mystery, I become more curious than stressed over what is or what is not in this life time. 🙂

    “When we see Him, whatever doesn’t make sense to us here won’t matter. Our faith will be sight. Our trust will be perfect.”

    Amen!

  10. Love this, Barbara. You mentioned this topic the other day, and it’s been on my mind since then. It’s really profound. We think we should know everything about everything, but thanks to something I read recently, I’ve been thinking about how this urge is what got us into trouble in the first place. Like you said, we’ll know more when we’re walking with Jesus, but it may not be everything because we were never meant to know everything. Perhaps we’ll better at understanding and at peace with just trusting then. Thank you for this.

    • What a good point–the urge to know more is what got us into trouble in the first place. We often feel like we have a “right” to know more. But God is wise in what He reveals and what He withholds. It makes me think of part of a stanza from an old hymn by Jerome McCauley:

      If we could see, if we could know,
      We often say,
      But God in love a veil doth throw
      Across our way;
      We cannot see what lies before,
      And so we cling to Him the more:
      He leads us till this life is o’er,
      Trust and obey.

  11. Great post! I do have a great many things I would like to understand one day, but I don’t know for sure that those things will seem very important once I’m in God’s presence in heaven. What God does choose to allow me to know now only teaches me to trust him with all that I don’t know.

    I read through Job recently, and once again pondered why God was displeased with what the three friends said about him. It’s a puzzling story in that sense. But on this reading, I wondered if it had something to do with Job’s great need to find comfort and peace, but the friends only viewed God as an equation: Do good = God will bless you; Sin = God will punish you. God’s response to Job, and the emphasis on how he cares for all the animals in his creation, indicates that he knows every detail of our experience and he cares deeply for us. We are known and loved, and I think that is more comforting than having our questions answered.

  12. I’m hearing “Farther Along” in my head right now. 🙂 Growing up, a teenage boy about 4 years older than me would always lead that song on our 5th Sunday singing night with a very strong southern twang. Good memories. It’s hard when we don’t understand why things happen, but I’m learning to value more and more the presence of peace in uncertainty since so much of life is uncertain.

  13. Dear Barbara,

    Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the topic. I would like to add that God does promise us that we will understand more clearly in the latter days. Specifically we will understand his judgement on the wicked. This he promised to us twice, in Jeremiah 23:19-20 and Jeremiah 30:23-24. If I am correct this will be at the return of Jesus, seeing Jeremiah 31 continues with the LORD being the God of all the families of Israel.

    For me these verses do give hope that the Lord’s judgement of the wicked will be clear to us. Whether this includes the judgement of the unholy dead, being send to hell I am not sure. However, the Bible says that we give thanks for the punishment of hell in Revelation 19:1-7. This means we will rejoice over God’s judgement over the wicked. This, I would say, implies a likely deeper understanding, as currently we do not tend to sing hymns praising the Lord for condemning people to hell forever.

    Furthermore considering that God already has given us with Christ also all things (Romans 8:32), that we will judge the world, and that some will judge angels (1 Corinthians 6:2-3), I would think God will not hold back the knowledge of his chastisements from us either.

    I would agree with you that nothing will matter more than knowing the LORD and being with the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven. Then, as the bride of Christ being in marriage to the One who is the Truth, the Way, the Life, God’s work in us and through us He will have completed on the day of Christ. I think we should not underestimate the love and truth God will reveal to us in Jesus.

    Kind regards,

    Stefan Schaab

  14. The older I get the less I understand. But with that comes some sense of relief because most things don’t make much sense. But the greatest joy comes in knowing that God holds it all in His hands. You’re right, Barbara, this is when trust grows deepest and strongest. It is a safe, peaceful place to reside while we’re waiting to see what He’ll do next. All will be well.

  15. Love your post and it spoke to my heart this morning. We have had one hard thing after another this year and it doesn’t seem to be stopping. I will put my trust in God.

    Thank you for sharing your thoughts with Grace & Truth Link-Up. I am pleased to inform you that your blog post has been featured on my Pinterest board for Grace & Truth Featured Posts. You can view your feature by clicking on the following URL:

    https://www.pinterest.com/embracingtheune/grace-truth-christian-link-up-featured-post

  16. Amen! I can’t always comprehend or understand what God is doing in my life, but I must trust Him to do what He deems is right. His ways are not mine. Such an inspiring post ma’am. Thank you!

    • The better we get to know Him, the more we trust even when we don’t understand. We know he is good, kind, loving, and will always do the right thing.

  17. Pingback: March Reflections | Stray Thoughts

  18. So much truth here. I especially loved this quote:

    “God did not answer the questions, but he answered the man–with the mystery of himself.”

  19. Barbara, this is just beautiful! So wonderfully spoken. This touched me so.

    Thank you so much for sharing this with Sweet Tea & Friends this month dear friend.

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