The theme that runs through all of [Elizabeth] Elliot’s work is that to trust God when we do not understand him is to treat him as God and not as another human being. It is to treat him as glorious—infinitely beyond us in his goodness and wisdom. But, as Jesus says, the hour at which God’s glory was most brilliantly revealed was on the cross (John 12: 23, 32). There we see that God is so infinitely, uncompromisingly just that Jesus had to die for sin, but also that God is so absolutely loving that Jesus was willing and glad to die. This is consummate wisdom—that God’s love and justice, seemingly at odds, could both be fulfilled at once. And so to trust God’s wisdom in our suffering, even when we don’t understand it, is to remember the glory and meaning of the cross. Elliot reasons like this: “Those hands that keep a million worlds from spinning into oblivion were nailed motionless to a cross—for us. . . . Can you trust him?” So one of the purposes of suffering is to glorify God by simply treating him as the infinite, sovereign, all-wise, and yet incarnate and suffering God that he is. This glorifies God to God—the most fitting thing that can be done. And if we do what fits God and our souls, we will find, as Elisabeth Elliot argues, a rest not based on circumstances.

Walking with God Through Pain and Suffering

by Tim Keller

Luke 23: 43 Luke 23:46 Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!”