“It is not, however, as though God allows us to see what may look to us like 'good reasons' for his letting things turn out as they did. Sometimes, of course, he does. But we must beware of insisting on some 'justification' or vindication that satisfies US. God has never promised any such vindication here in this life. He is under no obligation whatever to explain himself. He did not answer Job's questions. He does not answer all of ours. It is faith and faith alone that can believe things fit into a pattern for good. The human evidence points in the other direction.
For some, the death of five men at the hands of Auca Indians was “justified” by the salvation of some of the Aucas. ...Such attempts to figure out out why things happen, to allay our own fears and shore up our crumbling defenses, are not the response of faith. Where reasons are given, we don't need faith. Where only darkness surrounds us, we have no means for seeing except by faith.
There was no human explanation offered me for my husband's death that adequately covered the data. Nothing satisfied me except the absolute conviction that God was in perfect control. It did no look as though he was. It looked like chaos. Faith alone enabled me to believe in that pattern for good.”
- Elizabeth Elliot
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