Dear Missionary Lady,
Greetings in the name of our omniscient God. He knows all things, but that doesn’t mean He reveals everything to us. There are many things that we don’t know, at least not yet.
“For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known” (1 Corinthians 13:12). Our vision is dim and incomplete.
One thing that we do not fully understand is our own heart. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). We can try to evaluate, and we can ask God for help, but we are limited in understanding the depths of our beings.
We also do not fully know what we will be some day. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). We can anticipate that day, knowing that God will change us, but for now our comprehension of what that will be like is limited.
We do not know how God uses the events of our lives within His plan. “But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive” (Genesis 50:20). In the middle of those difficult years, Joseph and his family did not know what God was doing, but God knew, and He was doing it.
We don’t know what heaven will be like. We know a little bit, but as far as having any real comprehension of that day, we can’t fathom it. It will make the trials of this life insignificant. “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Revelation 21:4). We can read these words, but we can’t really wrap our minds around them, because this is nothing like our current context. We can’t relate. But it is coming.
We don’t know how God will use our labors for Him. “In the morning sow thy seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good” (Ecclesiastes 11:6). The sower does not always know the condition of the soil – who will respond and who will not. The sower does not always know the results of his labor. He sows and waters and sometimes moves on without seeing the reaping, but that does not mean that the reaping does not happen.
Imagine this scene in heaven. “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands” (Revelation 7:9). So many people from so many nations will be there. We don’t know all the steps along the way that led them to salvation. We never knew that some of those people would ever respond. But there they will be.
We do not know the depths of our heart, but God will still make us into who He wants us to be. We do not know God’s workings through the difficulties of life, but God will still work out His good purposes. We don’t know all the glories of heaven nor how they will erase all the trials of this life, but God has a wonderful world waiting for us. We don’t know how God will use our feeble efforts, but God is in the business of redeeming souls and gathering a harvest.
Thank God for His complete knowledge and for the things that we will someday see, even though our current vision is dim.
Love in Christ,
Peggy Holt
member at Open Door Baptist Church in Lebanon, PA
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