His Encouragement #56

Happy Thursday! I am blessed to be a part of a group of bloggers who feel led to share a bit of encouragement each week from the Bible. We recognize our daily need for Christ and we aim to share that with our readers. Plus, when Thursday comes around, we can all use a little encouragement right? I hope that this post blesses you and that you find comfort, strength, and peace in the Lord today ❤

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He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

Ecclesiastes 3:11

I have seen the beginning part of this verse used with regularity as an encouragement to lift women’s spirits, yet there is so much comfort to be found in the latter part. What really stuck out to me was the phrase “no one.”

Have you ever met someone who thinks they have all the answers and anyone who disagrees with them is immediately wrong? Have you ever had a disagreement with another person over interpretations of certain biblical doctrines? Have you ever felt stumped with understanding how certain pieces of the Bible are able to fit without conflict? You’re not alone! The thing is, we aren’t meant to be able to fathom it all. There are things that God has revealed to us in His Word that we can understand clearly, but there are also pieces that we were never meant to fully comprehend on this side of heaven. It’s not that he’s holding anything back from us, but we simply can’t fathom it yet.

Did you ever (or do you) believe that once you go to heaven you will be able to understand everything? I will confess that when I was younger, I heard it said often enough that “we won’t understand it until we get to heaven,” that I treated the gates of heaven as the instant download of all the information I’d ever need to know for eternity. Sounds kinda nice right? But when I was in my teen years I was challenged by an author named Randy Alcorn to think about this more deeply.  Although I remember it as something he talked about in both his fiction and nonfiction works, it’s shared in greater length in his book called Heaven. He says in chapter 32 “God alone is omniscient. When we die, we’ll see things far more clearly, and we’ll know much more that we do now, but we’ll never know everything” (pg 305). We aren’t God and never will be. God is the only one that is omniscient but that doesn’t mean He won’t continue to reveal Himself to us for all of eternity.

⁶ And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, ⁷ in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

Eph 2:6-7

On the next page of the book, Randy Alcorn shares from Eph 2:6-7 and then says “The word show means ‘to reveal.’ The phrase in the coming ages clearly indicates this will be a progressive, ongoing revelation, in which we learn more and more about God’s grace” (Pg 306).

So where am I going with all of this you might ask? I want to encourage you to seek the scriptures and get to know your Heavenly Father as deeply as you can. If anyone tries to tell you they’ve figured God out–run far away from them–because they have put God in a box that He simply won’t fit into. There is an awe and mystery to the Lord that we can be amazed by and look forward to seeing Him face-to-face in Heaven, but He never expected us to fully comprehend all of his ways while living on earth. Only God Himself is omniscient. Find rest in the knowledge that as long as you have put your faith in Jesus, you will live out eternity with your Heavenly Father in Heaven. You don’t have to worry about comprehending everything, because God is the one in control and doesn’t only have this life figured out, but eternity as well. What a mighty God we have! <3

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Now, it’s your turn!

What Biblical verse is encouraging you today?

And, check out more Thursday Encouragement from my fellow blogger friends:

Nicole @ Christian Fiction Girl

Trisha @ Joy of Reading

Jacquelyn @ A Heavenly Home

Jessica @ A Baker’s Perspective

Gina @ Stories By Gina

Rebecca @Rev. Rebecca Writes

If you would like to join us: please contact Trisha or Nicole