Read Romans 11:33–34; Job 2:10; Isaiah 55:8–9

Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! For who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice? (Romans 11:33–34)

Despite all of our searching and study of the Scriptures, we’ll never be able to see everything clearly, to fully grasp and understand and answer all the questions. They are beyond our comprehension—a puzzle, a mystery.

Much of what happens in life we simply have to take by faith. Answers will not be forthcoming. These are the tensions of reality, and if we get marooned on the tensions, we will not be able to travel further. That is as our heavenly Father planned it.

Could it be that, in this strange unfolding of His will, we have failed to leave sufficient room for His permission of evil? Job asked his wife what I now ask you, ‘“Shall we actually accept good from God but not accept adversity?’” (Job 2:10 NASB)

It’s a mystery...based on how we see things and how we evaluate fairness and how we gauge goodness. God is the Potter; we are the clay. He’s the Shepherd; we are the sheep. He’s the Master; we are the servant. No matter how educated we are, no matter how much power and influence we may think we have, no matter how long we have walked with Him, no matter how significant we may imagine ourselves to be in His plans (if any of us could even claim significance), none of that qualifies us to grasp the first particle of why He does what He does when He does it and how He chooses to do it.

“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8–9 NASB)

Taken from The Mystery of God's Will by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 1999 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. Used by permission of HarperCollins Christian Publishing. www.harpercollinschristian.com