Children have an innocent inquisitiveness, particularly when things don’t seem to make sense. If a parent or other authoritative figure requests something that includes a noticeable loophole, a child may ask ‘why?’. If the first answer is insufficient, they will continue asking ‘why?’, unearthing layer after layer as they get to the core of the matter.
If adults are unprepared with sensible answers, as they grow increasingly exasperated with all the ‘why?’ questions, their frustrations mount. Soon you might hear the familiar phrase uttered in exasperation:
“Because I said so!”
This statement implies that it doesn’t matter whether or not the response makes sense and is understandable. Because the voice in authority has spoken, that is the final word that must be followed without hesitation.
There are times when God makes requests of us. When He doesn’t seem to make sense to us, we’re tempted to ask ‘why?’. If His first answer is insufficient, we might continue asking ‘why?’ until we hear a satisfactory response.
What’s the difference between the two scenarios?
When it comes to human beings, we all have one thing in common—we’re imperfect. We don’t always have the best of intentions in mind when making requests of others. God, on the other hand, is perfect. He always and only does the right thing. We’re challenged by the fact that what’s right, by God’s standards, is at times, incomprehensible by human logic.
God doesn’t have to justify Himself to us.
His word, His directives can be trusted because He loves us fiercely and desires the very best for us. As we get to know Him more intimately through prayer and studying scripture, we learn how to identify when God is speaking to us.
While we may continue to question each other when certain requests are made, we don’t need to do that with God. We can trust Him.
Because He said so.