A time of perspective... God knows what I don't.

It's 2:30 am. I've just finished having two long, very difficult conversations with two good friends. I grieve for both of them, and they know that I will be seeking our Lord on their behalf.

As I prayed with one of them tonight, there are so many times when we simply don't, simply can't understand what God is doing. We don't understand why God allows certain things to pass. We don't understand His reasoning in doing so. We don't understand how any good could come out of these situations. But there is one thing that we understand, and that we cling to in times of hardship: God is good and He is sovereign.

I've been thinking recently about Job (no, not this one). I've been thinking how, at the beginning of all of the trials that he faced, his response was simply "the Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord" (1:21), and "shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?" (2:10). But, over time, he seems to turn the focus a bit more on himself, and how he will remain faithful through the tribulations. However, starting in ch.33, Elihu comes along and says, "Dude, Job... hang on, man. It's not about you. It's about God's glory." (paraphrase...)

Of a truth, God will not do wickedly, and the Almighty will not pervert justice. Who gave him charge over the earth, and who laid on him the whole world? If he should set his heart to it and gather to himself his spirit and his breath, all flesh would perish together, and man would return to dust.

-Job 34:12-15

It is good for us to seek the Lord in confusion, doubt, frustration, even sometimes in anger, asking Him why He sovereignly ordains some of the things that He does. It's okay that we don't understand God's will, and it's okay that we run to Him in times of trouble, pressing hard into Him with questions which grieve our souls. But in the end, we have to come to the realization that we're dealing with the Creator of the entire universe, the One who lifts His voice to the clouds, that floods of water may cover the land, and Who can send forth lightnings, which obey His every command (38:34-35). In the end, we have to realize that God is God, and that we are not.

So, I will be praying for my friends. I will be seeking God, asking Him earnestly that He may answer the prayers in the way that I ask them. But, ultimately, I will ask God that His glory may shine forth, and that these situations - no matter their outcome - will turn men and women to Christ, so that the Godhead may be blessed and glorified more fully through these trials. God knows what I don't, and I will trust that this is a good thing.