How should we respond when God's ways are beyond our understanding? Setting the Scene Job’s friend Elihu has been pointing Job to the greatness of God displayed in thunder, lightning, snow, and wind. Then he adds: “Now no one can gaze at the sun when it is bright in the skies, after the wind has swept them clean.” (Job 37:21) The point is simple: even the created sun can be too dazzling for us; how much more the Creator’s ways! When God’s purposes feel blinding, how do we respond? First Response: Humble Acknowledgment of God’s Supremacy • We recognize the obvious—that God is infinitely higher. • Isaiah 55:8-9: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways…” • Romans 11:33: “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable His judgments…” • Admitting our smallness is not defeat; it is aligning with reality and letting God be God. Second Response: Trusting Despite Limited Vision • Proverbs 3:5-6 calls us to “trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.” • The same Job who wrestled with mystery eventually said, “I know that You can do all things and no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.” (Job 42:2) • Scripture never asks us to understand everything; it asks us to trust the One who does. Third Response: Worship in the Midst of Mystery • Worship doesn’t wait for full explanations. • Psalm 131:1-2 depicts a weaned child resting in his mother’s arms—content even without answers. • Habakkuk moved from questioning (1:2) to singing: “The LORD God is my strength.” (3:19) • Praising God for who He is steadies the heart more than mastering the facts. Fourth Response: Waiting for Future Clarity • Some answers are reserved for later. Deuteronomy 29:29: “The hidden things belong to the LORD our God, but the revealed things belong to us…” • 1 Corinthians 13:12 promises that “now we see through a glass dimly… but then face to face.” • Hope rests on the certainty that what is unclear now will be crystal-clear in His presence. Living This Out Today • When life raises questions, rehearse God’s past faithfulness—both in Scripture and in your own story. • Replace the urge to dissect every detail with deliberate acts of trust: thankfulness, obedience, and worship. • Keep looking at Christ, the clearest revelation of God (Hebrews 1:3). The more we fix our eyes on Him, the less the unanswered questions dominate our vision. We may not be able to stare at the blazing sun, yet its light guides our day. Likewise, God’s ways may be beyond us, but His light is enough for the next step—and that is where faith flourishes. |
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