And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.” But they understood none of these things. This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said. (Luke 18:31-34)

Jesus prophetically spoke of the future He would face in fulfilling His mission as He brought up what the prophets had wrote about Him hundreds of years prior. There are over 300 prophesies about Messiah in Scripture, and 33 prophesies were fulfilled on the day of Jesus’ death alone. Of the few prophesies He mentioned to His disciples in these verses, these were prophesied by king David and Isaiah:

Yet we read that when the disciples heard Jesus, they didn’t understand any of it. My initial thought is, “How unfortunate that they didn’t understand what Jesus was telling them”, but it’s really not unfortunate, because it was divine. It was hidden from them, and they were kept from grasping any of it for a purpose. What Jesus told them wasn’t for them in that specific moment, it was meant to be recalled later and recorded for future followers of Jesus, like you and me.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I am a naturally curious person, and I like to understand the why in things:

The list of why questions could go on and on, and while some why questions can be answered or found out, some are hidden from our understanding. But does the why actually matter? Do we have to understand everything? Well, no.

Because if we’re walking by faith, pressing on toward the upward call of God in Christ Jesus, and simply doing what we’re called to as a servant and follower of Jesus, then the why doesn’t actually matter. What matters is that God knows all the answers to those questions, and because if we love God and are called according to His purpose, He is working all things for our spiritual good; even to the point of using evil for good.

If our sights get stuck on the why, then we miss the best part of the circumstance – that we’re not alone, forsaken, nor abandoned because God is with us, continuing to author each one of our stories in which He will one day bring to completion.

We may not always understand what God is saying to us at every moment He speaks or what He allows to happen in our life, but if we continue to press into Him, if those things do come into clarity the Holy Spirit will bring to remembrance the things He has said to us, just as Jesus promised when He said, “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” (John 14:25-27)

I encourage you to set your sights above life’s circumstances and firmly fixed on Jesus, not getting hung up if you don’t initially understand what God is speaking or what is happening in your life but continuing to follow Him as you trust His plan for your life. Life is definitely hard; but God is good, and so are His plans for you, so let not your heart be troubled!