Ruth 4:15

Ultimately, God brought great, surpassing blessing into the life of this poor widow who had seen so many days of sorrow. Yet her words coming into the land of Israel were haunting: "The Lord has afflicted me" (1:21). How can a good God allow his children to be afflicted? Notice that Naomi never asked this question. She accepted the reality that regardless of the source of her troubles, the sovereign God allowed them. She understood well that nothing slips by the throne of God and arrives at our door "by accident." How then do we reconcile God's great love with the pain and suffering he allows into our lives? We can't. God's plans and purposes are too vast, too incomprehensible for our finite minds to put together. As Paul affirmed, God's paths are "beyond tracing out" (Romans 11:33).

Ultimately, we have to trust that the God who created our souls and the limitless universe in which they reside knows what he is doing. And in time, like Naomi, we may even hear those near us praise God for his goodness to us.

Excerpted from a devotional in "The Encouragement Bible," pg 343. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing.