UNVEILED MYSTERIES What I do
you know not now, but you shall know hereafter. John 13 verse
7 Much is baffling and perplexing to us in God's present dealings. What! we are often ready to exclaim,
Could not the cup have been less bitter, The trial less severe,
the road less dreary? Hush your misgivings, says a
gracious God, Arraign not the rectitude of my dispensations,
You shall yet see, all revealed and made bright In the mirror
of eternity. what I am doing, it is all my
doing, my appointment. You have partial view of these
dealings. They are seen by the eye of sense
through a dim and distorted medium. You can see nothing but plans
crossed, and gourds laid low, and beautiful rods broken. But I see the end from the beginning. Shall not the Judge of all the
earth do right? Later you will understand. Wait
for the later revelation. An earthly father puzzles not
the ear of infancy with hard sayings and involved problems. He waits for the manhood of being,
and then unfolds all. So it is with God. We are now
in our infancy, children lisping in earthly infancy a knowledge
of His ways. we shall learn the deep things
of God in the manhood of eternity. Christ now often shows himself
only behind the lattice, a glimpse, and he is gone. But the day is
coming when we shall see him as he is, when every dark hieroglyphic
in the role of Providence will be interpreted and expounded. It is unfair to criticize the
half-finished picture, to censure or condemn the half-developed
plan. God's plans are here in embryo. We see, says Rutherford, the
broken links in the chain of his providence. Let the moulder
work his own clay in whatever frame he pleases. but a flood
of light will break upon us from the sapphire throne. In your
light, O God, we shall see light. The need be, muffled as a secret
now, will be confided to us then, and become luminous with love. Perhaps we may not have to wait
until eternity for the realization of this promise. We may experience
its fulfillment here. We not infrequently find, even
in this present world, mysterious dispensations issuing in, unlooked
for, blessings. Jacob would never have seen Joseph,
had he not parted with Benjamin. Often the believer never would
have seen the true Joseph, had he not been called on to part
with his best beloved. His language at the time is that
of the patriarch. I am indeed bereaved, all these
things are against me. But the things he imagined to
be so averse have proved the means of leading him to see the
Heavenly King in His beauty before he dies. Much is sent to humble
us, and to prove us. It may not do us good now, but
it is promised to do so at our latter end. I shall not dictate
to my God what His way should be. The patient does not dictate
to the physician. He does not reject and refuse
the prescription because it is nauseous. He knows it is for
his good, and takes it on trust. It is for faith to repose in
whatever God appoints. Let me not wrong His love or
dishonor His faithfulness by supposing that there is one needless
or redundant drop in the cup which His loving wisdom has mingled. Now we know in part, but then
shall we know, even as also we are known.