“I Don’t Understand!”

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9 ESV)

Have you ever told God, “I don’t understand!”? I have, and I’m pretty sure you have as well.

The next time you can’t wrap your head around why and what God is doing, remember that we only have a partial view of what is happening. We were visiting a small church in Port Bolivar, TX, and the pastor was discussing prayer and several other topics. But he made mention that “we only see a sliver of the whole picture of what’s really going on, and God sees the whole picture. We also can only see what’s going on right this very minute, and God sees the past, present, and future all at the same time.” That really struck a chord with me; it made great sense as to why I am sometimes confused about what God is doing. It’s because I have a very limited view of the events and their timeline, and God sees the whole picture.

Follow along with me for a moment, if your front door is only open an inch or so, so all you can see is a sliver of what is out front of your house. You see a man with his arm around a young person, pulling them away. What is going on? It would probably alarm you, wouldn’t it? I know I would immediately throw open that door so I could get a complete picture of the activities. I think that is the way it is with God; many times, we can only see through a sliver of the door opening, and God has the door wide open and knows everything that is happening. Well, that illustration helped me; hopefully, it helps you as well.

The next time you say to God, “I don’t understand”, remember it’s because you can only see a sliver of what’s really happening, and our loving, faithful, gracious God sees everything.

"Living in Grace is not about what I can do, but about what Jesus has already done!"