Editorial by Editor

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · May 14, 1914

Editorial

By Editor

Sometime We Shall Understand

The Scriptures of Truth bring to view two mysteries,—first, the mystery of God as comprehended in the plan of salvation and the marvelous working of his mighty power; and second, the mystery of iniquity. These mysteries we shall never be able fully to comprehend, nor shall we be able to understand, at least in this life, many things in our own experience which are the outgrowth of, or associated with, these two great mysteries.

Some there are who reject the Scriptures of Truth because of the mysteries contained therein. As reasonably one could reject or discredit his own experience because of the mysteries associated with it; for life presents many phases which we cannot now comprehend. As we review the years that are past, we are led to marvel at some decisions we have made. We are daily confronted with circumstances that we cannot explain. Sickness, sorrow, death, and many phenomena which occur, hold in their grasp unsolvable questions, beyond our finite comprehension. We cannot tell why prosperity comes to one, and disaster to another; why under the same conditions one man grows strong and rugged, and another sickens and dies; why wealth and preferment are secured by one, and elude the eager grasp of others; why the noble and the true and the brave are permitted to fall a prey to death, and other lives far less helpful to the community and to the work of God are continued. These questions have ever been mysteries to finite understanding, and they will remain mysteries to the end of time. But the children of God have the definite assurance in his Word that "all things work together for good to them that love God."

How blessed is this assurance! Man cannot read the future, but God can. Heaven knows the outcome of every issue. The human mind naturally consults first of all temporal convenience, and would choose the best for the present at the sacrifice of eternal gain. Heaven, viewing the end from the beginning, and considering the results to be obtained of paramount importance, shapes life's experiences with a view to the eternal destiny. God "doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men." He delights not in the suffering and sorrow and pain which are the lot of mankind, and yet in his infinite wisdom he permits these conditions. He permits them for some wise purpose, and to his trusting children he will work out every experience for good in the end.

The human heart, like Jacob, may cry out, "These things are against me," but as Jacob lived to see that those things which appeared so evil in his sight were permitted of God to work out the accomplishment of Heaven's purpose in his life, so we shall see sometime—if not now, then in the world to come—that God has tempered every wind that blows; that he has caused even the wrath of man to praise him; and that though he has brought his children through the furnace of affliction, it was that the dross might be purified from their characters, and they be fitted as living monuments to show forth his praise throughout eternity.

In view of these considerations, let us trust where we cannot see. We serve a God of infinite love and of infinite wisdom. He cannot be unkind; he cannot err. We may safely commit to him every one of life's issues. We may cast upon him every sorrow. He is the great burden bearer, a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Sometime, if not now, we shall understand.

F. M. W.