Chapter 16

              On page 210, of The Pact, "you might not understand now," she said . " But God allowed this for a reason." That reminded me of what was said in the "Bible"  Jesus replied, "You don't understand now what I am doing, but someday you will."

Thou knowest not now - Though he saw the action of Jesus, yet he did not fully understand the design of it. It was a symbolical action, inculcating a lesson of humility, and intended to teach it to them in such a manner that it would be impossible for them ever to forget it. Had he simply commanded them to be humble, it would have been far less forcible and impressive than when they saw him actually performing the office of a servant.

Shalt know hereafter - Jesus at that time partially explained it John 13:14-15; but he was teaching them by this expressive act a lesson which they would continue to learn all their lives. Every day they would see more and more the necessity of humility and of kindness to each other, and would see that they were the servants of Christ and of the church, and ought not to aspire to honors and offices, but to be willing to perform the humblest service to benefit the world. And we may remark here that God often does things which we do not fully understand now, but which we may hereafter. He often afflicts us; he disappoints us; he frustrates our plans. Why it is we do not know now, but we yet shall learn that it was for our good, and designed to teach us some important lesson of humility and piety. So he will, in heaven, scatter all doubts, remove all difficulties, and show us the reason of the whole of his mysterious dealings in his leading us in the way to our future rest. We ought also, in view of this, to submit ourselves to him; to hush every murmur, and to believe that he does all things well. It is one evidence of piety when we are willing to receive affliction at the hand of God, the reason of which we cannot see, content with the belief that we may see it hereafter; or, even if we never do, still having so much confidence in God as to believe that what He does is right.

Perhaps you are thinking, "Well, what's the point? What does God accomplish by allowing us to suffer?" Very simple: He's trying to tell us something. By allowing people to suffer, God is showing us that something is wrong. If everything were alright between man and God, then there would be no sorrow and death, because in the beginning there was none. God is showing you every day of your life that man has been separated from Him because of sin, and that man is destined to an eternity in hell fire unless he comes to God for help. The fact that God allows suffering and agony today proves that He will allow it in eternity as well.

God doesn't enjoy seeing anyone suffer, but He does allow people to suffer for various reasons. If you've never received the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, then God wants you to see your need to do so. Sometimes God has to allow tragedy to enter a life in order to get someone to look to Him for Salvation. As someone has said, "Some people won't look up to God until He puts them on their back." This is sad, but true. There are many people who would still be lost in their sins if God had not brought some tragedy into their life to get their attention.