“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:9, NIV).

“Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls” (1 Peter 1:8-9, NIV).

Elderly, alone, his family in other states, legs markedly swollen and severely anemic—his illness was progressing. He shared, “I know some very strong spiritual Christians who have told me, ‘If you take hold of God’s hand, and you stay obedient, then He will have a reason for everything you are going through. I don’t know what that reason is, but I trust Him. I know that one day there will be judgment for how we have lived, and a reward. I don’t focus so much on the reward. I just know that I will have peace with Him eternally.”

Reason, and reward.

If we are seeking God’s will over ours, holding His hand and walking in obedience, God will place an eternally important reason within everything we experience, even when we can’t imagine what it is.

And also, as my patient declared, if we are saved by Christ, we will someday receive a glorious reward, though we may not see it now. Oswald Chambers tells us what our greatest reward will be: “My goal [in life] is God himself, not joy, nor peace, nor even blessing, but himself, my God.”

I hope another glorious reward will be a chance to look back on our lives and see how God’s loving plan worked its way into all the winding roads of our lives.

Whether we are going through a long dry stretch of life, or running with joy through a time of great achievement, or slogging through a time of depression, or holding one we love as life destroys them, we know God will place His presence and His plan within our circumstance, a plan more important than our present joy or sorrow. And then, whatever life brings us, we can look forward toward a reward that “far outweighs” our present experience.

“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Corinthians 4:17, NIV).

As Pastor Richard Hipps often said, “We have a good God who is writing a good story with a good ending.”

Dear Father,

Within the storm, and also in the sunlight, may I trust that you have a reason and know you have a glorious ending.

Amen