Friday, January 21 – 1 Corinthians 13:12

If He is so good, then how could He let this happen?

“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I also have been fully known.”

If we are honest, many of us have wrestled with this question. We have struggled when we look at what we know about God and the circumstance in front of us and see a major disconnect. How could a God who is loving allow this? How does a God who is full of justice allow this? Over time, we may see marks of God’s working in the situation but still wrestle with this question.

In the ancient world, the mirrors that were available were made from polished metal, so they were always distorted.[1] Sometimes we may encounter mirrors like these as we go about our day, seeing our reflection in a hubcap or a spoon and think, “Is that what I really look like?” The answer is yes and no. Yes, a reflection like that does represent your appearance to some extent but does not show it in its fullness. When we look at these frustrating circumstances, there are two things this passage calls us to. First, we must understand the lens we are looking at is incomplete; we only know a tiny piece of the whole story. This distortion and incomplete picture come because of our limitations and the brokenness of this world. God is not blind to the brokenness we see—He is in the restoration work of fixing it! He has felt our pain and has responded to it in the most powerful way: He sent His Son Jesus who was well acquainted with grief (Isaiah 53:4) so that this does not have to be the end of the story! That leads to the second piece we are called to in this passage: we must understand that this life is not the end. We can have hope as we look toward what’s ahead in heaven, where these things will be fully restored through Christ.

• Have you ever wrestled with this question? How does this verse encourage you?
• How does God’s acquaintance with grief help us with our own grief?
• Pray and talk to God about the situations that have made you wrestle with this question. As Him to continue to do His work of restoration there.

[1] David Guzik, “Study Guide for 1 Corinthians 13 by David Guzik,” Blue Letter Bible, accessed January 6, 2022, https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/guzik_david/StudyGuide2017-1Cr/1Cr-13.cfm.