Giving Up the Right to Understand - Martin Wiles

Take your son, your only son . . . and go to the land of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains. Genesis 22:2 NLT

Pete was obeying God, so why was his life falling apart?

The events unfolded slowly at first, then more rapidly. Pete had answered God’s call to full-time ministry a number of years before. Now events with enough explosive power to derail all that were taking place—circumstances that weren’t his fault and were also beyond his control. Decisions had been made that would affect the rest of his life. He saw a resignation in his future. He saw other churches not wanting to call him as pastor. He didn’t understand why God allowed this. 

Depression stalked Pete for more than a year after the ground completely disappeared from beneath him. Not until he gave up his right to understand was he able to finally move forward into other areas God opened for him.

Peter was forced to do what Abraham had to do. God promised Abraham a son through whom millions of descendants would come. Now God asked him to sacrifice that same son. How in the world would the descendants come if the son was dead? But he didn’t question God. He had enough faith to believe God could resurrect his son.

God promises to love us unconditionally, use us in His service, gift us with talents and special abilities, and work all things together for our good, but he never promises we’ll understand all the ways he’ll work to accomplish that. Pete didn’t, Abraham didn’t, I haven’t, and millions of others haven’t either.

A crucial element of following and serving God is giving up the right to understand his ways. By faith, we must believe he works to form us more each day into His Son’s image. By faith, we must trust that what comes out on the other side will be spiritually healthier than what’s on this side. If we could always understand God, we’d be like God . . . but we’re not.

Following God is a journey of faith that includes rarely understanding what he’s doing or why. When we give up this right, it frees him to do things in and through us he would not otherwise accomplish.

Let God be God in your life whether you understand him or not.

Father, give me the faith to trust you regardless of how things appear. 

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