SOMEDAY WE WILL UNDERSTAND

SOMEDAY WE WILL UNDERSTAND

 

As I sit here today, the wind is blowing and the skies are grey.  And I am reminded that it is like that it our own lives.  The wind blows through our lives and our skies turn to grey, but I am so thankful that I belong to the Lord Jesus and He is the “Sonshine” in my life even on dreary days.  And by faith, I can lean on Him, and knowing that He holds me by my right hand and lifts me up in the “Everlasting Arms.”

 

There are so many right now on “my list” that are suffering and discouraged.  And they wonder why they have to go through these things day after day.  Some people are considered terminal and unless Jesus heals, they will soon go home to glory.

 

And right now we read in the news headlines about grieving families asking “why?” We hear of great disasters with great loss of life and our hearts go out to the mothers, fathers, children and other family members.  But someday, for those who know Jesus, all those questions and the “Whys” will be answered and we will know and understand, when we see our Lord face to face.

 

This is an old gospel song that some of you may remember.  And some of you may be asking these questions right now: “How could a loving God allow such a horrible thing to happen? Why do good people suffer and bad people prosper, why me, God, why me?”        Here is the story of how “Farther Long” was written:

 

“Late in the nineteenth century, W.B. Stevens, a preacher in the little crossroads village of Queen City, Missouri, was struggling.  His young son had died suddenly, and he was devastated. He had counseled many people who had lost loved ones.  He had given them the right Bible verses, and he had prayed with them and comforted them, but this sorrow struck home.

 

He wondered if he could keep preaching; recently his sermons seemed hollow.  How could a loving God allow such a horrible thing to happen? Why me, God, why me?

 

Stevens wrote down his thoughts in a poem.  He had no easy answers-only the assurance that “we’ll understand it all by and by.” Little did he know that his simple poem expressing a fathers’ heartache would become one of the best-known gospel songs to comfort others with heavy hearts.”  (William Peterson, HYMNS)

 

FARTHER ALONG

 

Tempted and tried we’re oft made to wonder

Why it should be thus all the day long

While there are others living about us

Never molested though in the wrong.

 

[CHORUS]

Farther along we’ll know all about it,

Farther along we’ll understand why.

Cheer up my brother live in the sunshine,

We’ll understand it all by and by.

 

When death has come and taken our loved ones

It leaves our home so lonely and drear.

And do we wonder why others prosper

Living so wicked year after year.

 

[Repeat Chorus]

 

When we see Jesus coming in glory,

When He comes down from His home in the sky.

Then we shall meet Him in that bright mansion,

We’ll understand it all by and by.

 

W.B. Stevens

 

My dear friends, let me encourage you today, all is not lost.  We have the “God of all comfort” along side of us (II Corinthians 1:3).  I, too, have days of discouragement and have had days of pain, and sometimes feel like I just can’t go on, but I have a hope and look to the joy ahead and my eternity with Jesus my Lord. I too have lost a precious loved one not quite two years ago, and I still have those moments when a memory will surface with a song she loved or a treasure that was hers, or a glance at her picture.  In those times I so long to be able to share my heart with her.  So I know that many of you out there experience those moments too. Let me share with you God’s Word to bring you comfort in these times.

 

“For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made this light shine in our hearts so we could know the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. We now have this light shining in our hearts, but we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves.  We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed.  We are driven to despair.  We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God.  We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed.  Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus may also be seen in our bodies.” II Corinthians 4:6-8.

 

And, oh picture the day when we see Jesus coming in the clouds of glory, coming down from His home in the sky to gather His children home.  What a meeting that will be there in the sky!  And we will then understand it all by and by.  As one song says, “Just One Glimpse of His dear face, all sorrows will erase, so bravely run the race till we see Christ.”

 

In Jesus’ Name,

Pastor Sharon