There are times when we think how much better and manageable life would be if we had known what was to come.  If we had known that something awful was to happen, we would have at least been more prepared.  But I am not sure that I agree with this logic all the time.  Yes, there are times when I wished that I had known certain things before they happened but looking back, I must also say that if I had already known everything that was to happen, I would have been paralyzed by fear much more so than more prepared.

In his book, Hearing God, Dallas Willard writes, “In faith also we come very slowly to appreciate what is happening to us.”  He argues that there is a good reason for God not to reveal everything to us and that we must struggle to understand it.  He explains that it is in the process of struggling that “we grow to the point where we can appropriate and assimilate the content of truth as it becomes clear.”  The chances are, if we had known or understood everything, “we would not have had the courage to proceed.”  By making us go through the struggle, God is preparing us for what is to come.

Two of my colleagues in the Bible school where I teach are now not only retired from teaching, but they are also retired from thinking.  One is already fully demented while the other is half-way there. The other day I spoke with him and his wife over the phone.  He can still answer me whenever I ask him but that is how far our conversation goes.  He can no longer tell a story or explain anything; his answers are limited to one or two words, “Yes, no, thank God.” I told him that he’s one of my favorite preachers and that I learned to unearth the spiritual treasures of the Bible from him. Now he is fading away.

We do not know what will become of us and we need not know it.  When the time comes, we’ll be ready because God has prepared us.

Pastor Paul