“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, He has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that He cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.” Ecclesiastes 3:11 ESV
Just as we cannot know everything about all things, so we cannot understand the ways of God.
God makes all things beautiful within His time. Though we cannot detect the end of a thing from its beginning, God can. He is able to do far more than we can ever ask or think. His ways are beyond what we could ever come to understand and know. Forever, God moves throughout our lives, working within the present and knowing the end. Suffering and pain may be unbearable to us. We may question why God has allowed such and such to happen. We may ask why God does not cancel out evil altogether. Our questions usually come from a standpoint of pain and a weakness of persevering through that which God has appointed for reasons outside our understanding. For just as we cannot know everything about all things, so we cannot understand the ways of God.
We ourselves cannot even master or know all there is to know about our careers, let alone know everything about five other professions. With this in mind, it is vanity to question God, Who has created all things, knows all things, and has a beautiful end in mind for all things.
We ourselves may be a teacher, an electrician, a plumber, a businessman, or a doctor. Whatever we are, we are forever growing and learning more about our craft, our profession, our career. We ourselves cannot even master that which we do, let alone know everything about five other professions. We are beings who are forever growing in that which we are destined to grow in. We cannot know how to be an archaeologist when we are spending all of our time as a registered nurse. With this in mind, it is vanity to question God, Who has created all things, knows all things, and has a beautiful end in mind for all things.
For God has truly made all things beautiful within His time. It may seem unbearable and too painful to live within the present, but God’s foreknowledge knows exactly where all things shall end. He knows the wonderful plan He has that will reveal His glory. He knows how He will take care of His children who believe in Him and repent of their sins. He knows the justice that will be done upon the sons of disobedience and the unrepentant transgressors of all the ages.
God remains outside time, seeing all and being intimately engaged and immanently involved with all.
God has a beautiful end for all things because He has created all things. He remains outside time, seeing all and being intimately engaged and immanently involved with all. He loves us and cares for us. He has a plan of restoration, hope, and a future. We need not cower, complain, or descend into the depths of despair. We can live, move, and have our being in Him, knowing He is with us and will never leave or forsake us.
“For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10 ESV). God has a plan for each and every person on this earth. His desire is that we walk in accordance with His purposes and His will. We may not always understand. We will have times of uncertainty. We will go through seasons of testing and not be able to hear or discern the voice of God. It will seem as if He has left. This is all meant to grow us more in Him and to reveal the futility of the temporal things of this life.
God sometimes extracts the feeling of Himself from us in order to draw us into a deeper relationship with Him. For what becomes comfortable and normal tends to be seen as obsolete and taken advantage of.
God sometimes extracts the feeling of Himself from us in order to draw us into a deeper relationship with Him. For what becomes comfortable and normal tends to be seen as obsolete and taken advantage of. It becomes un-thanked and un-meditated upon. It becomes that which we take for granted. It is usually not until we reach the end of something - our car breaks down, we lose a family member, or our dog dies that we begin to reflect back and see how much of a blessing that very thing was.
For the end of things are not merely the end. Rather, they are that which reminds us that God has always been. The end of a thing brings to our remembrance the blessing it was to us. It helps us to appreciate what is to come in the future with greater excitement, while possessing greater care and more acceptance. The trifles of what would have been from imperfect, temporal things and people can now be more greatly managed.
For we recognize the finiteness and mortality of such things and people. In so doing, we begin to live in the present with greater care, love and authenticity. We begin to allow the end of something that once was to propel us into the now with gratefulness, thanksgiving, and rejoicing. We become more prone to quickly forgive. We become slow to speak and are quick to listen (James 1:19). We begin to live each day with greater zeal and appreciation. This is due to the end of a thing waking us up to the preciousness of life and the many blessings given to us by God.
For the end of something is never a permanent end. Each end is a transition and a redirection. It moves us into the future with greater wisdom and love. It leads us towards God and enhances our desire for Him, if we respond appropriately. For ends are beautiful if we redirect our old nature and seek to be transformed by the Holy Spirit. As our new nature is put on, we see the beauty of death. Death to self and death of born again believers.
There is beauty in seeing a born again family member or friend die in this life, knowing they have gained Eternity in the next. For Christ awaits every soul that is sealed by the Holy Spirit with open arms and a Heavenly touch.
There is beauty in submitting our will before God and taking up His will. There is beauty in seeing a born again family member or friend die in this life, knowing they have gained Eternity in the next. For Christ awaits every soul that is sealed by the Holy Spirit with open arms and a Heavenly touch. His voice desires to whisper the intimate song of His Word to His beloved children. “Welcome, my son and daughter, into Eternal Paradise. Come, see the place which I have prepared for you. Taste of the sweetness of Purity and Perfection. Come, and forever walk in peace and joy with Me.”
All things work together for those who know God and love Him. No matter the pain and sorrow, joy comes in the morning. No matter the mourning and tears, a cheerful heart shall arise. Whatever we go through and are destined to endure, God is with us.
“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28 ESV). All things work together for those who know God and love Him. No matter the pain and sorrow, joy comes in the morning. No matter the mourning and tears, a cheerful heart shall arise. Whatever we go through and are destined to endure, God is with us. We need not be afraid. We need not judge based upon what is currently going on.
God is equally in the future as He is in the past. He is able to see that which we cannot see and will make things work out for a greater good in the end.
For one day, all will cease to be. Nothing will haunt, abuse, or destroy us. We shall be brought under the Shadow of the Almighty's Wing. No longer will the permitting of things contrary to God be allowed by God. Though it is painful and we do not understand why God does not act on our behalf in the midst of persecution and adversity, we must give our child-like faith to Him. We must know that He is equally in the future as He is in the past. He is able to see that which we cannot see and will make things work out for a greater good in the end.
“If God would concede me His omnipotence for 24 hours, you would see how many changes I would make in the world. But if He gave me His wisdom too, I would leave things as they are.” Jacques-Marie-Louis Monsabré
The old French Dominican priest, Jacques-Marie-Louis Monsabré, once said, “If God would concede me His omnipotence for 24 hours, you would see how many changes I would make in the world. But if He gave me His wisdom too, I would leave things as they are.” God will always bring about a greater good from that which is painful, evil, and sinful. These things do not go unchecked or unaccounted for. God simply allows them for reasonings only known to Him. Therefore, we must not live in fear, anxiety, depression, and discouragement. God has given us a new heart and a new mind. We must place Him first, even when we do not feel like it or understand. For faith is not a feeling, but an endurance in the Truth.
“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men” (Colossians 3:23 ESV). In whatever we are going through, may we work as if working unto the Lord. May the God of Light illuminate Himself within, that others may come to know Him. For ““In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father Who is in heaven”” (Matthew 5:16 ESV).
May the knowledge of eternity lead us to working for God and giving Him the glory in all that we do and endure. For all things have meaning and purpose. We must simply surrender ourselves and what we think we know before the King of kings and Lord of lords. For the Unbegotten Beginning will lead us into the Unending End of His presence. The Alpha and Omega shall not let anything go unaccounted for or unchecked. He shall make beautiful what man has perverted in His timing.
Let us therefore cling to God's Love, Goodness, and Holiness. For He is all. He rules all. He is deserving of all. He is the Father Who gives good gifts and blessings to those who finish the race. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
PRAYER
O Blessed God, Him Who is Thee Eternal One, may You be exalted forevermore. God, we repent of allowing our emotions to override spiritual truths. Forgive us for placing our trust in ourselves, in circumstance, and in people. O God, give us the strength to have child-like faith in You. May we not succumb to how we feel, what our senses perceive, what we reason things to be, or our present circumstance. May we simply rest in Who You are and what You have done. We give You our anxieties. In doing so, O Lord, we shall fear no evil. By the power of the Holy Spirit, we shall endure to the end for Thy glory and in full assurance that You shall have the Final Word. For You alone are the Word, the Bread of Life, the Living Water, the Way, and the Truth. May our will seek and believe in Thy Goodness. Above all, may Thy will be done. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Lance VanTine