Why?

If you are a parent you will remember how frequently your young child asked the question, “why?” Why do I have to come in? Why do I have to take a bath? Why does she get to go but I have to stay home? The question has endless variations. And sometimes we get so tired of hearing it that we want to say “because I said so.” We just want them to trust us. To understand that our way is the best way because we love them.

I think God wants the same trust from us. He wants us to believe that His way is the best way. That He has our best interests in mind when He allows life’s events to happen. Isaiah tells us “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD.” (Isaiah 55:8)

Perhaps the question we should ask instead of “why?” is “how?”

How do You want me to grow through this experience? How can I allow You to work in me and through me? How do You want to use what I am learning to make me more like Jesus? Those are the kinds of questions the Lord longs for us to ask Him. He will be more than happy to answer them! What questions can you ask Him today?

“On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for common use?  Romans 9:20-21 (NASB)