I've decided that one of the most tempting aspects of being the creature and not the Creator is that the fact that we are not omniscient. As in, we don't know what is in the hearts and thoughts of others. We don't know the end from the beginning. We don't know how the present trial will work together for the good of those who love God. We just ... don't know. All we can do is look back and, to paraphrase John Piper, contemplate the growing reservoir of past grace that has flowed through our lives, something we can clearly contemplate as we struggle with believing more grace will come in the future.
For those who are in that struggle with the unknown, here's an encouraging word from Charles Spurgeon's devotional, Morning and Evening:
"And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul."—1 Samuel 27:1.
The thought of David's heart at this time was a false thought,
because he certainly had no ground for thinking that God's anointing
him by Samuel was intended to be left as an empty unmeaning act. On no
one occasion had the Lord deserted His servant; he had been placed in
perilous positions very often, but not one instance had occurred in
which divine interposition had not delivered him. The trials to which he
had been exposed had been varied; they had not assumed one form only,
but many—yet in every case He who sent the trial had also graciously
ordained a way of escape. David could not put his finger upon any entry
in his diary, and say of it, "Here is evidence that the Lord will
forsake me," for the entire tenor of his past life proved the very
reverse. He should have argued from what God had done for him, that God would be his defender still. But is it not just in the same way that we doubt God's help? Is it not mistrust without a cause? Have we ever had the shadow of a reason to doubt our Father's goodness? Have not His lovingkindnesses been marvelous? Has He once failed
to justify our trust? Ah, no! our God has not left us at any time. We
have had dark nights, but the star of love has shone forth amid the
blackness; we have been in stern conflicts, but over our head He has
held aloft the shield of our defense. We have gone through many trials,
but never to our detriment, always to our advantage; and the conclusion
from our past experience is, that He who has been with us in six
troubles, will not forsake us in the seventh. What we have known of our
faithful God, proves that He will keep us to the end. Let us not, then,
reason contrary to evidence.
(taken from Radical Womanhood)
What a beautiful and humbling reminder!
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