Sometime We’ll Understand
A great American pioneer once said, “We shall never see the time when we shall not need to be taught.”1 Learning and growing is a basic part of life, and to progress is the very reason for our existence here upon earth. But with our learning we must also obtain understanding. As Solomon was counseled by his father, “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore, get wisdom and with all they getting get understanding.”2
Understanding is often difficult, but without it knowledge can be a dangerous thing. As one wise man recently remarked, “Some of our…students…apparently haven’t learned that their little learning was not a dangerous thing if they realized that what they knew was only a little learning.”3
We live in a time of great scientific discovery and advancement, a time which requires much understanding. And part of the understanding which is required of us is the realization that God controls the amount of knowledge man receives. It is more than coincidental that the human race has made little or no progress for thousands of years, and then, within just the past century, has made strides even our wisest forefathers would find difficult to comprehend. Understanding that our discoveries are controlled by the hand of God is as important as knowledge itself.
It is also important to know there are some things we might not be permitted to understand. “God [does move] in a mysterious way His wonders to perform.”4 Have we not all experienced tragedy and heartache and asked ourselves why? Who is there who has not prayed and seemingly received no answer? And who has not looked into the heavens and wondered how it was all possible? One of the most comforting perceptions we may have is to know that we may not be permitted to understand all things now, but that all answers will be revealed in time.
Maxwell Cornelius expressed it best in these words put to song by James McGranahan.
“Not now, but in the coming years…We’ll read the meaning of our tears,…
We’ll catch the broken threads again and finish what we here began; Heaven will the mysteries explain,
And then, ah, then we’ll understand.”5
And so it is with all our learning, which is great and good, we also need understanding – the most important being a trust in God and to know that “sometime, sometime we’ll understand.”5
1Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 10:221
2Old Testament, Proverbs 4:7
3Present Harold B. Lee, Conference Address, October 01, 1972.
4William Cowper, God Moves in a Mysterious Way
5Maxwell N. Cornelius, D.D., Sometime We’ll Understand, (Music by James McGranahan)
October 15, 1972
Broadcast Number 2,247