…even the doing of what is good requires discrimination….for the good is not good unless its purpose is conformed to God’s will. On many occasions in divine Scripture God is grieved with someone who is doing something that appears to all to be good, and He looks favourably on someone who appears to be doing evil. A case in point is that of the prophet who asked someone to strike him; when the man refused he was eaten by a wild beast, although he had acted in a way that was ostensibly good (1 Kings 20:35-36).
St Peter, too, thought he was acting rightly when he refused to have his feet washed, but he was rebuked for this (John 13:8). Hence we should do all we can to discern the will of God and to do it, whether it corresponds to what we think good or not….in short, all that God arranges is admirable, beyond the grasp of intellect and thought.
~St Peter of Damaskos
Prayerful Life 