When we look back through the years, many things appear different than they did at the time. Often it takes years to gain understanding. In the moment, we question and wonder. In our human judgment, we often think things should be different. If we had our way, we would never allow hurtful and grievous things to happen. Sometimes we are crushed by them and cannot understand why God permits them. But if we endure the test, we can often look back and see those were the very things needed to develop strength of character or teach us lessons that made our Christian experience more effective.
I have a quotation in my notebook that expresses a great truth. The writer had gone through dark and trying times — hours of bitterness, days of sorrow. Looking back, he wrote: “Then everything seemed to go wrong. But I see differently now. God has a hand in placing us in our circumstances, and I know he has cared for me all these years.”
Many of us have had times when things seemed to work for our destruction. Now, looking back, we see that it was God’s kindness and mercy which led us by an unseen path to heights we had not reached before. Even when we doubted God’s care and felt forsaken, the everlasting arms were underneath us. God was guiding us, though the path was strange and difficult. Later, He brought us out into a large place and established our goings (Psalm 18:19).
A manufacturer who had worked his way up from poverty to owning a large factory had a son who loved pleasure. His father had long provided spending money, but one day called him in and said, “Son, I’ve been furnishing you money for years. That’s over. You must now make your own way. If you go to Johnson, the superintendent, he’ll likely find a place for you.”
The son left stunned. He knew his father well enough to know he wouldn’t change his mind. Resentful and humiliated, he feared the disgrace of having to work. But realizing he had no choice, he went to the superintendent and asked for a job.
Starting in a low position, he did real work and didn’t enjoy it. But when he got his first paycheck, he felt something new — this was money he had earned. There was satisfaction in that, though the humiliation remained. Still, he was determined to prove himself. He worked faithfully and was gradually promoted. Eventually, he reached an executive position. The experience he gained working through each level was invaluable.
He returned to his father and said, “Father, I see I did you great injustice. When you cut off my allowance and sent me to the factory, I felt humiliated. I thought you didn’t love me. But now I see it differently. Your course was the only one that could have prepared me for the position I now hold. I’m thankful you were true to me, even though I didn’t understand it then.”
A few years ago, a young preacher came to me during a dark time he could not understand. Recently, he returned and said, “Those things I couldn’t understand then taught me lessons that prepared me to help many souls. I never could have helped them otherwise.”
Yes, things look different now. He sees God’s hand in those events. He sees those difficult times as blessings to his own soul and to others. He realizes he had been in God’s school of adversity and knew it not. What seemed destructive at the time were manifestations of God’s wisdom and kindness. Now he thanks God for those bitter and hard things.
Are you passing through trials you can’t understand? Do they seem to be ruining you? Trust God and be patient. Out of your night of bitterness and sorrow will come strength of character, a deeper knowledge of God, and a clearer understanding of yourself. As Romans 8:28 assures us, “All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” In time, you will look back and thank God for His wise and tender care that led you through the darkness to better and richer things beyond.
Charles Wesley Naylor is considered one of the most prolific and inspiring songwriters of the Church of God. He was bedridden for much of his adult life but wrote eight books, a newspaper column and more than 150 songs. Many of his writings are in the public domain.
