Left in the Dark

**Sit quietly, eyes closed, for one minute before reading.**

“…But He has also placed ignorance (darkness) in the human heart so that people cannot discover the work God has done (ordained), from the beginning to the end of their lives.” Ecclesiastes 3:11b

    We are in the dark ON PURPOSE. God has put us in the dark on purpose. (Does that frustrate anyone else??) So, the word translated “ignorance” can also be understood as “darkness”. He has placed darkness so that we will not know, we will not see. The second portion of this verse speaks to the fact that God actually stops us from knowing. He prevents us from knowing the future and how things will work out. Grrr…
   So often I want a picture of the future. I want to know how something will turn out. I want to know how God will bring good or beauty out of suffering and evil.
    Even if I can’t know it all, how about a little peek? A little peek would help me hope, to trust. This verse says, NO. He instead asks me to trust in HIM, His character and His promises. If He gave me a peek I would trust in the results, I would hope it what is to come rather than Him.
    Is there something that God has kept dark that you are frustrated by? How can the call the trust God draw you closer to Him?
**Sit again in quiet for as long as is available to you.**

"When God, when?"

**Sit quietly, eyes closed, for one minute before reading.**

“God has made everything fit beautifully in its appropriate time, Ecclesiastes 3:11a

    At times it is nearly impossible to see how this verse makes sense, how it is true. We cannot imagine how God can bring together suffering, challenges or even evil to make something beautiful.
    It is often difficult to see how God can take a million puzzle pieces and fit them together into something beautiful. We cannot imagine what beautiful picture He is working towards and why He is taking so long. So, equally as difficult is waiting for the time in which these pieces will come together. “When God, when?”, we ask.
    When will He heal our daughter? When will He return our brother home? When will our parents stop fighting? When will He stop the chaos of abuse, violence, exploitation, war? “When God, when?”, we ask.
    In our heart wrenching request to know when, God works with the final picture in mind. He sees the picture of what is to come and asks us to hope and to trust. Hope for that which we cannot see through trusting Him. Trust. There it is again. Not easy.
    What are the puzzle pieces in your life that you are wondering about? How is your heart in the waiting?
Is there something in your life that you cannot imagine being redeemed into something beautiful? Talk to God, let Him know, ask Him for faith and allow Him to meet you.

**Sit again in quiet for as long as is available to you.**