I am afraid that we fail to grasp fully the significance of the events of life when they are happening. Only after some time has passed and we have the opportunity to view those events in their context of related events in our life do we come to fully appreciate the role those circumstances play in shaping who we are.

I have recently thought about how differently I view certain difficulties now that I can relate them to my entire life context. What at one point may have seemed pointless and painful has proved instead to be necessary and beneficial. God has a way of revealing things to us in stages, illustrated in the way in which He healed the blind man of Bethsaida:

They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?”

He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” 

Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. (Mark 8:22-25)

In a couple of different ways, Jesus put off the man’s healing, creating drama in the story. He led the man out of town, away from the crowd, no chance of using the man and his condition to promote Himself. His first touch (a gross one at that) only partially did the job; the man did not fully regain his vision until after Jesus touched him the second time.

He works that way in our lives sometimes too. We ask for His help, His deliverance, His provision and He seems to delay the answer, separating us from our request by the distance of time. Then we wonder if what we see is really an answer to our prayer. After all, He is perfectly capable of fixing our problem in one fell swoop, so apparently what we see is either our imagination, rationalization, or just blind chance and coincidence. What we are really seeing is our own circumstantial equivalent of men who look like trees walking around.

All the while, God is revealing Himself to us, bit by bit, stage by stage, so as to build drama and test our faith and our resolve. Eventually He places His final touch on our need and we are able to see more clearly. We see that the difficulty that we went through was instrumental in teaching us about God and His purposes and ways in our lives.

Don’t be so quick to curse your hardships and suffering. Don’t be hasty in assuming God has not our will not answer your prayer and meet your need. Hang in there. Give God time and space to work. You will marvel at what He accomplishes in your life.