The Lord lets us go through tests sometimes, as it’s through such difficulties that we grow and mature; they make us stronger and can teach us invaluable lessons. It might even appear as though He is being a little too hard on us, and sometimes we’re tempted to think, “How could God let us suffer like this? How can He let that sort of thing happen?” The Devil is always around to try to make you doubt and even criticize the Lord, like he did with Job.

God said about Job, “There is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil” (Job 1:8). But the Devil challenged God, “Well, You just let me work him over and we’ll see!” So God allowed the Devil to put Job through many tests and afflictions. Job lost his family, his wealth, and his health—and that’s when his sin came to the fore. The Devil had been right about that. Job’s sin was self-righteousness, self-perfection. His sin was that he didn’t think that he had any sin, and he couldn’t understand why God was doing all this to him.

It wasn’t until he hit rock bottom, sitting in a heap of ashes, scraping boils from his body with a piece of broken pottery, that he finally confessed he wasn’t as righteous as he had thought he was—and then God delivered him! Job learned his lesson, the Devil gave up, and God gave Job a new family, restored his health, and made him even more prosperous than before.

Satan almost triumphed, but the Lord won a great victory out of what had looked like a terrible defeat in the making. When things couldn’t have been going worse for Job and his future couldn’t have looked darker, he declared, “Though [God] slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15). That’s one of the most glorious testimonies in the Bible of sustaining faith in the face of great suffering, defeat, and discouragement.

One thing is certain: God knows what He’s doing. So whenever we don’t understand why He allows something to happen, we just have to wrap our questions in a little bundle of faith and tuck it away till some day He reveals why. I’ve had some things happen to me that I couldn’t understand, except that they kept me humble, taught me lessons, and eventually furthered the Lord’s plan for my life.

We don’t always know right away why God did or allowed certain things to happen, and in some cases we may not know till we get to Heaven. I have a whole lot of questions that I’m going to ask when I get there. We’ve just got to trust Him anyhow!

One of the great questions of this life is why God allows seemingly bad things to happen to people, and specifically to believers. We probably won’t know the complete answer to that till we get to Heaven. I think that’s going to be part of our continuing education in the afterlife—learning why. Like Paul wrote: “Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12 NIV).

We don’t know all the whys and wherefores, but we do know that the Lord loves us, that He knows best, and that if we don’t understand something now, we will later. In the meantime, we’ve got to trust God no matter what. “Though I have had a tough time and I don’t know why, I will still trust Him! Though He let this or that happen, I will still trust Him!” That’s the greatest victory of all, when you seem to be defeated and you still trust the Lord because you know He’s ultimately in control of the situation and will work it for your good in some way, as the Scripture promises: “All things work together for good to them that love God” (Romans 8:28).

If you haven’t yet received Jesus, you can right now by praying the following prayer.

Dear Jesus, thank You for giving Your life for me. Please forgive me for the wrong things I’ve done, come into my heart, give me Your free gift of eternal life, and teach me more about Your love. Amen.