Message summary: My friend, keep trusting today even when we don't understand.

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"I heard, but I did not understand. So I asked, ‘My lord, what will the outcome of all this be?’ He replied, 'Go your way, Daniel, because the words are closed up and sealed until the time of the end'" (Daniel 12:8,9). "As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance" (Daniel 12:13).

Like many we get to our church service a bit early and greet people in the foyer and those who sit near our pew. For several years John and Ethyl sat behind us. John ran a farm and sold produce at a stand in the Lancaster Central Market for over 50 years before retiring. He died a couple of years ago and now Ethyl sits behind us. For most of us that's how the death of others affects us, very incremental.

I sat down in my pew yesterday after greeting others. Just before the service began I began to think of churches regathering in the southeast where there was devastating flooding. Surely for some of the churches the deaths were not incremental but there were a number of empty seats. Some of those attending surely considered the service just two weeks earlier when those empty seats were filled with very familiar faces.

You see Mary in front of you who, as long as you can remember sat next to her husband Bill, but now sitting alone, weeping. You look over and see Clarence and Mildred who lost a daughter and two grandchildren. You see similar scenes all around the likely small church with many embracing and weeping trying to provide comfort and solace.

What a hard job the pastor has since the inevitable "why" questions abound and most will expect the pastor to answer them. We cry out in times like this, "Help us to understand". But they won't fully understand on this side and will need to keep trusting even when they don't understand.

Perhaps they sang an old gospel song, "We'll understand it better by and by".

At the conclusion of his book Daniel expresses himself in a way in which many of us can identify, particularly when it comes to some of the more difficult prophetic portions of God’s Word. "I heard, but I did not understand". I’ve sure been there. I’ve read a Scripture portion and wondered, "What does this mean and when will it happen?" And I also wonder this in regard to events in life like those personally impacted by the flooding must be considering.

And that’s true not only with prophecy, but in God’s personal dealings in our lives. Although we know that things will work out according to Romans 8:28, we so much want to know how and when. The answers to most of these questions are simply not provided. So why do we expend so much energy or allow ourselves to become anxiety-ridden about those things which we can do nothing about. Yet we so often do!

We need to keep moving forward in the direction we feel God is leading and trust Him to provide the answers or peace about those unresolved troubles along the way. The apostle Paul, facing a time of great uncertainty said to the Ephesian elders, "And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me" (Acts 20:22,23).

Such is the life of faith! My friend, keep trusting today even when we don't understand. The book of Daniel ends with this statement. "As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance" (Daniel 12:13).

Let us also receive this word today in our own lives. One day we will shed these feeble bodies that are prone to sickness, weariness, aging, disease and death. But praise God one glorious day we will rise in our glorified, immortal bodies to receive our fully allotted inheritance, not by our works of righteousness, but according to His mercy! What a day, glorious day that will be!

Be encouraged today, Hebrews 3:13

Stephen & Brooksyne Weber

" We’ll Understand It Better By And By " Listen on YouTube  Gaither Vocal Band

"Trust His Heart" Listen on YouTube  Babbie Mason   This song has the line, "When you don't understand".

"Welcome Home"   Listen on YouTube    CityAlight   I heard this song for the first time last week while mowing my lawn. What a powerful, stirring and assuring perspective. I sure hope we sing it in our church at some point! We dedicate this song to the flood victims and especially to those who not only lost all their possessions, but also their precious loved ones.

" He Who Began A Good Work " Listen on YouTube  Steve Green (An alert reader pointed out I had the wrong link to this song last week)

This morning I received this message from Richard Dresselhaus on his "One For The Road" daily teaching.

Moses Lapp, the young man we often mention in these messages, has traveled to the Southeast to assist in the flood recovery efforts. As of this morning he is in Greenville, SC with a group gathering supplies and expects to head into the heavily impacted areas in the mountains of North Carolina with them. He represents scores of individual and larger ministries like Convoy of Hope who are demonstrating the best of America.