This week's Theme: Full of God
Day 1: In Time, the Reason
“What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand” (John 13:7 ESV).
Peter drew up his feet when Jesus was about to wash them and said, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” He could not bear to have those blessed hands on his feet. Jesus insisted, however, and said, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” There was a purpose in what He was doing which Peter could not understand. Still he should accept the service without question, and in time the reason would appear.
These words are always on Christ’s lips as He comes to us in our anxieties, our perplexities over the mysteries of life, our sorrows and disappointments. “What I am doing you do not understand now. It seems to you unnecessary, perhaps even severe and unkind. You cannot see goodness and love in it. You cannot conceive how it ever can prove to have blessing in it for you. But wait—someday you will understand. Then you will find that this strange, hard thing is really full of love.”
We cannot understand all that God does. How could we? Consider His greatness. Scripture tells us that God is infinite, eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient. In the first verse of the Bible we are told that “God created the heavens and the earth”(Genesis 1:1)—in other words, the whole universe.
Our earth itself seems big to us—but it is only a mere speck in comparison with all that God made. Scientists tell us we can see a few thousand stars with our naked eye on a clear night. But they have also calculated our galaxy to contain about 100 billion stars.* And these belong only to one little corner of the universe. Truly God is great!
So perfect also are the movements of all the stars, planets and moons, there is not a moment’s variation in all their motions. No star in all the countless millions—is ever a second late in rising or setting. When all the forces that move them are accounted for, eclipses, transits, and conjunctions can be calculated centuries in advance, and there is never a fraction of a second of failure in their occurring.
How great and wise God is—and how vast are the affairs He controls! Is it any wonder that we are sometimes puzzled and perplexed concerning His dealings with us? Could we expect to understand all the reasons for His actions, and always to see in advance the wisdom and beauty in His vast and complex purposes?
“What I am doing you do not understand now.” We are assured that God has a plan for our lives—for each individual life of His redeemed children. Jesus had a purpose in washing the feet of His disciples that night. It was not an idle thing that He was doing. He meant to teach these men a great lesson. He has a purpose in every smallest thing, in each event in our lives.
Life is full of God. His plans run on through all the years and are woven of the threads of the common events of our lives. We do not know the meaning of the small things in our everyday experiences, but even the least of them is in some way connected with the great divine plan. Therefore, we should be careful to be faithful even in that which is least, for any failure of ours may be the dropping of a stitch which will marr the web of our own life, and perhaps another’s too.
~ James R. Miller ~ Afterward You Will Understand, pub. 1909
*Scientists today tell us there are at least 400 billion stars, although it is difficult to know - the universe is vast and constantly reveals new wonders.
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