Later He'll Explain

When Elder Ulysses S. Soares gave his talk  Confide in God Unwaveringly, he taught an important truth that I hadn't considered before now: The hymnals in other languages have different hymns. With my interest in hymns, this news is exciting to me. I already knew that hymnals in some languages wouldn't have all the hymns we have; comparing the English and Spanish hymnals side-by-side will clearly show that something is missing from other versions. But I hadn't considered that other hymnals might have hymns that the English version doesn't, nor did I expect the hymn Elder Soares to choose to illustrate this point to resonate so strongly with me. In the Portuguese hymnal, there is a hymn titled “Not Now but in the Coming Years,” which includes lines that translate to:

If clouds instead of sun spread shadows o’er our heart,

If pain afflicts us, never mind; we will soon know who Thou art.

Jesus guides us with His hand, and He will tell us why;

If we listen to His voice, He will tell us by and by.

Confide in God unwaveringly, and let Him us sustain;

Sing His glory endlessly, for later He’ll explain.

Life is hard. I feel like I've said that more than once. But one thing I may not have said aloud yet is that it's also hard to trust God when life gets difficult. I don't have more problems than most people, in fact, I have less problems than many people have, but I still struggle, and I still wonder why live has to be such a struggle. I understand that this world is fallen, but did it have to fall as far as it did? And if God wants us all to make it back home, why would God allow Satan to make temptations so effective? It sometimes feels like God makes life hard with malicious intentions or like He's setting us up to fail, when I know that neither of those things are true. This hymn has taught me that, as I face the challenges of mortality, I need to have faith and to be faithful and to trust that, later, God will explain everything. Everything about life that doesn't seem to make sense to me makes perfect sense to Him, and He will tell us everything by and by. I just need to trust Him and be patient. That's going to be tough for me, but if it gives me peace when times get tough, it'll be worth the effort.

And it may also be worth the effort of looking for and though hymnals printed in other languages to see if I can find more gems of wisdom like this.