Suffering often leaves us wondering, “how is this all going to work out?” Suffering creates a sense of chaos; like the puzzle pieces aren’t fitting together.
Elisabeth Elliot relays an amusing story that’s helpful for us. Apparently, her husband Jim was quite the handyman. He had the ability to build many things from scratch. Elisabeth did not share her husband’s talent. She talks about, time again, standing over her husband’s shoulder as he’s building a piece of furniture, asking, “What’s this piece for?” Or “where does this go?” (I’m sure Jim was infinitely patient with her). He would often reply, “You’ll just have to wait until I’m finished to see.”
In relaying the value of these moments to her suffering, Elisabeth says, “This brings about a very simple analogy: God is saying, ‘Trust Me.’ Accept it now. See later.”
Our lives are significantly more complicated than furniture, so it follows that there may be numerous pieces of our lives that leave us asking, “Where does this go?” Or “how does this fit?” In Genesis, Joseph waited a decade and a half to see where a number of his pieces fit. Be patient. “Accept it now. See later.”
