Why I Love Living By Faith In Future Grace

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.
--William Cowper, from a hymn entitled "God Moves in a Mysterious Way"

This example is only one reason. Simply amazing. And there are millions more. God moves in a mysterious way. His wonders to perform.

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?" For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.
Romans 11:33-36

But beware. Not all of us will see the smiling face like Molly and Abraham in this lifetime. The sobering reality of the fallen world that we live in is that some of us will spend our entire lives looking at a seemingly frowning providence.

But make no mistake about it. Because of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, the smile is always there. Always. Even on our best days in this life, we can only see it through a mirror dimly. But when the veil is pulled back on that day when we no longer see in a mirror dimly, we will see Jesus' radiantly smiling face (1 Corinthians 13:12). And every heartache will be forgotten. Nothing else will matter. The joy that will arise in us as we gaze at His countenance on that day will be 10,000 times better than the indescribable ecstasy that I can easily imagine Abraham and Molly must have felt in that moment of seeing God's smiling face.

When you live by faith in future grace, the best is ALWAYS still to come.

So keep waiting, brothers and sisters. Keep waiting. God loves it when we wait for Him.

From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.
Isaiah 64:4

Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.
Isaiah 30:18

"The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him." The LORD is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.
Lamentations 3:24-26

I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the LORD more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.
Psalm 130:5-6