why…Why…WHY???
Have you ever been told you’re on a need-to-know basis? We are a curious species, aren’t we? We want to know EVERYTHING, about EVERYONE, ALL the time, but sometimes information is confidential or of a sensitive nature or maybe it’s just really none of our business. As believers, our need-to-know curiosity can get us into trouble when we question God why He does things, or more like why He doesn’t.
Not that questioning is bad…Moses, Job, Habakkuk…they all questioned God, but they never blamed God. Having to know all the answers can cause our faith to falter if we’re not careful. The bible tells us in Isaiah 55:8 that our ways are not God’s ways. We can’t see the bigger picture like God can. Pastor has said before, we don’t need to understand God’s head, just His heart. We may never know or understand this side of heaven why we go through trials, or why loved ones pass suddenly, but God has His reasons. Knowing that doesn’t make it any easier to follow His commands when we’re used to lists to keep us on track at the grocery store or GPS to navigate us on our route. How must Abraham have felt when God told him, “Go to a land I will show you.” Gen. 12:1. In today’s world, we’d insist on a detailed itinerary!
Our American military force is one of the finest, and it is made up of men and women who have learned a great respect for leadership and the chain of command. Since their early days in boot camp, they’ve learned to follow orders, even if they don’t understand them or agree with them, which reminds me of Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade.” Six hundred soldiers were given an order, they followed it and it unfortunately led to their death. In the second verse, it reads:
“Forward, the Light Brigade!”
Was there a man dismayed?
Not though the soldier knew
Someone had blundered.
Theirs not to make reply,
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die.
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
Dismayed…we may be frustrated or confused with someone, our situation, or a direction we’ve been told to go. “Theirs not to reason why, theirs but to do and die.” We don’t always need to know WHY God tells us to do something or WHY He’s done something we don’t understand. Our mission is to recognize and respect the Chain of Command, to do the work He’s put us on this earth to do, to run the race and cross the finish line. You can ask all the questions you want, as long as you’re prepared for the answer, “Sorry, that’s on a need-to-know basis.”