LMKTM: Asking Why

Something happened around the time our son Joey started attending preschool this year. He picked up quite an unsettling habit. Whereas he previously would do what we asked him to do with little to no comment, suddenly, all our commands, large or small, were met with one, three-letter word that we have grown quite tired of. The word? Why.

“Joey, can you put your toys away, please?”

(At this point I’ve reached a limit) “Because I said so!”

Joey will literally question everything we ask him to do with this single syllabic word, regardless of the request or inquiry. It has become, well…irksome at times. And yet, if I’m honest, I’m often so similar to 3 year old Joey in my dealings with the Father, that I should find more kinship in his incessant quest for knowledge than irritation.

How often does something happen in my life that causes me to persistently pepper God with my own chorus of “Why?”s, only to find that the answer is sometimes as succinct as my very own “Because I said so.” Joey doesn’t know that as his parent, I have knowledge that he does not, and that the reason I ask something of him is because I see that it clearly needs to be accomplished. In much the same way, God sees all. He knows all. When He asks things of us, we, like Joey, may not understand the nature of His request. Still, do we keep forging on with our “why” tirade, or do we sit back, obey, and trust that, as the parent, He knows what He’s doing?

  “’For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
   neither are your ways my ways,’
            declares the LORD.
 ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth,
   so are my ways higher than your ways
   and my thoughts than your thoughts’.”

– Isaiah 55:8,9

We may not always understand Him, but we can always trust Him. There’s nothing wrong with asking “why,” but once you have, there may come a time where He asks you to simply trust Him. Are you willing to let Him have sovereignty in your life? Today, if you feel like you’ve been uttering your “why”s and not receiving many answers (or many satisfactory answers) in return, maybe God is asking you to stop, trust, and accept. The good news is that He is the one Person whom you can trust, even when His decisions seem confusing to your current understanding. The next time you feel frustrated with the answer or lack of answer to your latest “why,” think of Joey. Remember that sometimes God’s answer is simply “Because I said so,” but that in that answer, He always has a plan. You can trust Him today, even if you don’t understand Him.