Anyone who has ever been around children knows that at about 3-4 years old their curious little minds begin wondering about all things around them and they start asking, “Why?” It seems as if every sentence or command out of your mouth is in return punctuated with this question out of theirs. Some are easily answered: “Why do birds have wings?” Other queries, especially as the child gets older, are not so readily answered and might send the parent scurrying to see what Google says about the matter. Soon, though children discover how to find the resources to answer their own questions.
If only finding answers to life’s questions was always that simple. But somewhere along the journey, more complex and troublesome events occur and somehow the response to that little inquiry, “WHY!?”, is not so forthcoming.
There always seems to be some sort of glitch in this path of life that causes us to have to stop and wonder why this event or that crisis is happening. If there were some forewarning we could possibly take precautions, but alas, usually these happenings seem to come out of nowhere, blind-sighting us as they drop stumbling blocks in our way.
There are times that events happen in our lives, that we’re not sure why they’re happening at that moment; however, we can surmise the reason later on. I will never forget an early December trip to Canada one year. We had planned to travel through Buffalo, NY, and had a map in hand (these were pre-GPS days) to make certain the correct highways were followed. After a while we began to see road signs indicating cities that we didn’t recognize as being on our route. Upon closer scrutiny of the map, we discovered that somewhere (we never figured out where) we missed a turn-off and were now headed northward instead of northwest , 75 miles off our designated course. We were too far along to backtrack so we just planned a different route. Imagine our amazement, when that evening we heard on the news that Buffalo, NY, had just experienced one of its worst snowstorms to date! Sometimes it’s hours, but many times it weeks, months, or even years, until we have that “Aha!” moment.
And then there are those events that we just can’t figure out–a dramatic change in our lives, health issues, or a death. There just doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason. In our minds there is nothing obvious or logical to what is occurring. Paul states in 1 Cor. 13:12, “….for we now see through a glass darkly.” As humans we like things bundled up in nice, neat, little logical, controlled packages. But we may have to come to grips with the fact that we might never know the reason behind it all, as well as the realization that we are not the ones in control.
What we do have to understand is that Yahweh is the One in control and sometimes He allows certain situations for different reasons. Is what is happening a correction, a sort of, “let’s get back into line” kind of thing? Possibly. Are we being tested to see what our reaction will be? Probably. Is there a lesson to be learned? Oh, you can count on it! For Yahweh, dutiful parent that He is, does not let a teaching moment slip by.
Certainly, we ask our Why’s, our If’s, and our When’s. We question if there’s something that we could have done or not done in the unchangeable past to have averted our situation. We wonder when we’ll see “the light at the end of the tunnel,” and we wonder if there is anything we can do that we haven’t already tried to ease the position we’re in. But we know that adversity helps build good character and that patience is a virtue, and so we are consoled with these edifying thoughts.
Ultimately, though, we need to trust Yahweh whole-heartedly, knowing that He has our best interests at heart. No, we may not always understand why Yahweh thinks the way He does, and Isaiah 55:8-9 tells us, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith Yahweh. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” But He is the Sovereign Ruler and He always knows what is best for us. Yahweh has His own plans and His own time frame in which to accomplish them. We just need to be patient (Lk 21:19), working out our own salvation in fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12), and wait upon Yahweh (Lam. 3:26); and someday we may just find out: Why?
by: Debbie Wirl
