“one never can see, or not until long afterwards, why any one was selected for any job. And when one does, it is usually for some reason that leaves no room for vanity.” -24
And yet some things do make sense beforehand. I’m not convinced that all things are hidden from us until later for the sake of avoiding vanity.
Yet the truth remains: we are too quick to see the utilitarianism of the decision. “Oh, yes, He would be good for that role.” At the same time we are to evaluate, beforehand, whether some would be fit for a certain role. So it is not an either/or, but more likely a both/and. We use wisdom to evaluate before hand, and we often see things emerge later that we didn’t realize, understand, or even fathom. God certainly knows the heart perfectly while we only play pen-the-talent-on-the-man-then-fit-the-man-for-the-job.
If God did not have both hands on our shoulders, …
But he does, and so we can, expectantly, look for what we could not see at first. We can in hindsight put two and two together. And a glorious realization that is. Let us not attribute that to man—others or ourselves—but to God’s gracious sovereignty and purpose to conform his children into a church that looks like the bride adorned for her groom.
Lingering Over Leaves 