“Lord, I don’t understand why you seemed okay with this.” This is what I cried to the Lord when I had that season of not getting what the Lord wanted to show to me.
I don’t see why His understanding does not align with mine when all I could see is, “this is the right thing.” I like figuring things out in the same way that I like planning. I view things with logic and facts and truth. But sometimes, God put us in a situation where our understanding and discretion will be put to test. Not necessarily that they are wrong, but for God to show to us that His thoughts are not our thoughts neither His ways are our ways (Isaiah 55:8). Even the reality tells us to believe that this should be done and this should be right, God has a different plan given those unpleasant circumstances that we experience and witness. Perhaps, the reason why God allowed the book of Jonah to be written is for us to learn as we go through it. As we are familiar with the story, God commanded Jonah to go to Nineveh and preached the Gospel so that people would turn away from their sins. But Jonah resisted perhaps he was thinking that those people deserved judgment because of their wickedness. But God saw them differently. Of course, God knew that they would repent without Jonah preaching the Gospel. He could use anything and anyone to make those people hear the Gospel and repent. But He chose Jonah to test his character and to reveal the frailty of his nature.
Human nature, we see things according to what is right and wrong, according to what we perceive is true and false, and according to our human understanding of what should be and should not be. Yet God showed me that there is something more than what we can see and understand. There’s a reason and a purpose beyond our imagination that only He can understand. Truly, we can never fathom the depths of God’s thinking. What I am thanking and praising for is that our God who is not obliged to explain any thing to His creation, through His love and mercy, He lets us see and witness His grace, power, patience, and love through circumstances and people.
God sees what we cannot see. He knows what we don’t know. He holds the future we are uncertain about. And if we are willing to trust Him with the things we do not understand, He will reveal Himself to us in an unexplainable way.
The best story that I could think of is the story of Joshua and the wall of Jericho. The Israelites probably did not understand why they needed to walk around the city and shout. It may seem foolish, but they believed and trusted God anyway. That, my friend gave them victory. Recognizing the power of God through the people and circumstances from the Bible lifted my weary soul. His Word revived me and made me repent of my own sin of relying on my own understanding. Yes, I might understand it correctly, but God is not telling me to put things on my hands but trust His purpose and plan. He has crafted a beautiful story out of my despair, frustration, and disappointment and that made me appreciate His love even more.
While walking on the process of healing, these familiar verses once again came alive and enveloped my heart and soul to cling on to the God who made the Heaven and earth.
When I came to my senses, I sobbed and asked for His forgiveness. As the night continuously darkened the sky, my heart glowed knowing that my God would never commit a mistake. As I lied down my head on the soft pillow to sleep, there was an overwhelming peace in knowing that I don’t need to carry all things on my back. I just need to trust Him. I might not understand what He is up to, but I still need to trust Him for He knows the way far better than me.
Proverbs 3:5-6 “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.”
Ecclesiastes 11:5 “As thou knowest not what is the way of the spirit, nor how the bones do grow in the womb of her that is with child: even so thou knowest not the works of God who maketh all.”
Additional Reading: Jonah 4:1-10
Leave a comment