What Do We Do When God's Will Doesn't Make Sense?

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It’s difficult for us to understand how some of the hard things we go through in life could possibly be within God’s will for our lives. Often, challenging things don’t seem to make sense while we’re going through them—sometimes, even for years later.

Still, in reading about individuals in the Bible, we usually assume that they understood God’s plan while it was playing out in their lives, assured He had a purpose for allowing it to happen to them. 

But they were humans like us and didn’t yet know the whole story of their lives or how God was going to work things out for their good, from the beginning to the end. 

Being human, like us, some probably experienced the ups and downs of emotions many of us do during uncertain times. They most likely had unknown and unanswered questions while experiencing uncomfortable, even tragic, events in their lives. Although we read of the plan God had for them and how He worked it all together for good, they didn’t know how their stories were going to end.

Joseph Didn’t Know God Would Fulfill His Dream

In Joseph’s story, he was living a wonderful, comfortable, and favored life until God gave him a dream that seemed to tragically change the course of his life.

Genesis 37:7 describes his dream, as he explained it, to his ten half-brothers: “We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”

Already hated by his half-brothers, telling them his dream pushed them over the edge, as they plotted to kill him but instead sold him into slavery. “So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing—and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it” (Genesis 37:23-24).

Through slavery, imprisonment, and false accusations, it would have been easy for Joseph to wonder why God was allowing these drastic difficulties and changes to occur in his life. Yet, it was all in God’s plan and His will for Joseph’s life that ultimately led him to the place where his dream would be fulfilled.

Genesis 42:6 explains the prominence the events led him to: “Now Joseph was the governor of the land, the person who sold grain to all its people. So when Joseph’s brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.”

 As Joseph told his brother, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives” (Genesis 50:20).

Esther Didn’t Foresee Living in the Palace

Esther, a Jewish girl, didn’t have her sights set on living in the palace and really didn’t want to get involved in kingdom affairs. If not for encouragement from her Uncle Mordecai to act, her story may have ended differently.

“For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?” Esther 4:14

Esther put her trust in God, although she was reluctant at first to take action, not knowing how God would move through it. Even still, she risked everything to intervene in a difficult situation. Through her actions, God acted in a phenomenal way to remove a corrupt ruler and save her nation.

Daniel Didn’t Know His Life Would Take a Detour

Daniel 1:1 describes how, “In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.”

As an Israelite in the royal family and of nobility, Daniel didn’t see how God would reroute his life, allowing him to be carried off into captivity, be trained, and serve in pagan kings' courts (Daniel 1:3-5).

God didn't give Daniel a script of what to expect in his new life, showing how he was placed there for His purposes, including surviving a lion's den, and leading kings and an entire nation to turn to Him through the interpretation of dreams.

In Daniel 2:47, “The king said to Daniel, 'Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery.'”

As well, King Darius proclaimed in Daniel 6:26-27: “I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. For He is the living God and he endures forever; His kingdom will not be destroyed, His dominion will never end. He rescues and He saves; He performs signs and wonders in the heavens and on the earth. He has rescued Daniel from the power of the lions.”

Peter Didn’t Understand How It Could Be God’s Will for Jesus to Die

The Apostle Peter disagreed with Jesus when He described God’s plan for Him to come:

“From that time on Jesus began to explain to His disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life” (Matthew 16:21).

It seemed Peter was so infuriated at the thought that he went as far as to pull Jesus aside and reprimand Him: “Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ‘Never, Lord!’ he said. ‘This shall never happen to you!’” (Matthew 16:22).

Probably to his surprise, instead of Jesus agreeing with him, he was sharply corrected: “Jesus turned and said to Peter, 'Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns'” (Matthew 16:23).

Peter clearly didn’t agree with or understand how it could be God’s will for Jesus to be killed.

Trusting God for Our Stories’ Endings

As Isaiah 40:29 reminds us, “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.”

Like Joseph, Esther, Daniel, and Peter, most of us experience difficulties in our lives that we just don’t understand. Often, while going through them, we aren’t able to see the big picture God has for our lives and how He is going to weave together all the good, the bad, and even the ugly for our good.

Still, in the midst of them, Jeremiah 29:11 encourages us to trust God’s plan: “'For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’”

Likewise, Romans 8:28 assures, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.”

During these hardships, losses, and sufferings, our strength and hope come from trusting God to not only be with us and carry us through but also to believe in His plan for our lives and that He will work it together for our good and His glory.

We can know, believe, and experience God’s presence with us, especially during difficult times. Psalm 46:1 urges us to trust that “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.”

Lynette Kittle is married with four daughters. She enjoys writing about faith, marriage, parenting, relationships, and life. Her writing has been published by Focus on the Family, Decision, Today’s Christian Woman, kirkcameron.com, Ungrind.org, StartMarriageRight.com, and more. She has a M.A. in Communication from Regent University and serves as associate producer for Soul Check TV.