I received the following A.W. Tozer post on Monday and have been pondering it ever since:
Trials and Pain: Good In Thy Sight
Then Samuel told him everything, and hid nothing from him. And he said, "It is the Lord. Let Him do what seems good to Him." –1 Samuel 3:18
A determination to know what cannot be known always works harm to the Christian heart.
Ignorance in matters on our human level is never to be excused if there has been opportunity to correct it. But there are matters which are obviously "too high for us." These we should meet in trusting faith and say as Jesus said, "Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight."…
Human curiosity and pride often combine to drive us to try to understand acts of God which are plainly outside the field of human understanding. We dislike to admit that we do not know what is going on, so we torture our minds trying to fathom the mysterious ways of the Omniscient One. It’s hard to conceive of a more fruitless task….
Under such circumstances the Christian thing to do is to say, "That thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest…. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight." A blind confidence which trusts without seeing is far dearer to God than any fancied knowledge that can explain everything….
To the adoring heart, the best and most satisfying explanation for anything always will be, "It seemed good in thy sight." (The Next Chapter After the Last, pp. 54-55)
I will never understand God completely or the reason why some things are as they are. If I think I should understand everything, it means I am trying to bring God down to my level. God doesn’t expect me to check my brains at the door, but He does expect me to trust Him, especially in those times when nothing makes sense, when I feel tossed and torn.
Father Tim in the Mitford Series says something like this: "Thy will be done" is a prayer God always answers. (Someone who remembers the exact quote, please add it to the comment section.)
Anyway, "Thy will be done" is a perfect prayer for every situation.
In the grip of His grace,
Robin
