Don't Expect to Understand and Love Deep, Important Truths Right Away
Very rarely is something that is really worth knowing understood and loved immediately. Many times, we have to think over things, letting them stew in our minds until we see the beauty of the truth and love it. This is a supernatural process. God must teach us these things for they are spiritual taught and learned. But, the process God often chooses to teach us things involves us fighting to get it. This teaches us dependence on God and reminds us that we are not as strong as we think we are. Paul told Timothy in 2 Tim. 2:7 to think over what Paul had said and God would grant him understanding. A direct command for all Christians to think. When dealing with the issue of suffering and an all-good, all-powerful God, it is worth thinking hard and long about it. Especially if things are going well for you. Now is the time to cement these truths in your mind so that when the next storm comes, you will be able to glorify God mightily and minister to others, even while you suffer.
Mark Talbot comments on the importance of the struggle to "get it" (from Suffering and the Sovereignty of God, p. 31, footnote 1):
"A word to my readers about how to approach this piece and others like it: We should never expect to understand important but difficult ideas in one reading. Understanding difficult ideas always requires perseverance and rereading. Good writers help you to ask new questions each time you read a piece that later readings should help you to answer. I have tried to write this piece so that you can understand it without reading the footnotes. So read it without reading them until it starts to make sense, and then go back through it reading the footnotes, too. They are intended to make additional points that fill in and support what I am saying in the body of the text. Above all, don’t get too discouraged! You don’t have to understand a text like this in a week or a month or even in a year. So keep rereading, remembering these words from Scripture, “Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold. She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her. . . She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed” (Prov. 3:13-15, 18). You will understand if you keep on trying."