Why? What for? How come? Inquiring minds want to know.
We all want to know why at some time or another. The word itself means finding the reason or purpose.
If we can just understand why, we think it would help, even though it doesn’t actually change anything.
It’s not really a bad question. Why? Maybe….if we just know why…..we can avoid the same situation in the future, and that’s a good thing, right?
But the why is not always so easy to come by.
Because Edom refused to allow Israel to pass through their country, Israel was forced to turn around. (Numbers 20:21)
I read this verse and the age-old question popped in my head. Several of them actually.
Why didn’t God intervene?
Why didn’t the king show them favor and let them pass?
Why did God let them get all the way there if He knew they wouldn’t be allowed to go through? If He knew they’d have to turn around and go back, disappointed and discouraged?
Wouldn’t it have been easier and more comfortable for them to just go through Edom?
And so I searched it out. I read and I cross-referenced and I read it in different translations, and at the end of it, this is what I found out.
There is no why.
I know…it’s frustrating. No matter how many times you read the text, you will never see an answer to the question why in there. It just doesn’t say.
Sound familiar? Sound like life? Ever wondered why and not gotten an answer?
Kind of like Elijah – after the fire consumed the sacrifice on the mountain and he prayed for the rain and God sent it, Jezebel threatened to kill him and he ran away. He ran to the mountain of God. And in essence he asked why in verse 10. (You can read the entire interaction here.)
“I’ve served You zealously, God! And now they’re trying to kill me. Why aren’t You stopping this? Why are You letting this happen?”
Then came the windstorm and the fire and the earthquake, but God wasn’t in any of that. After all that there is the still small voice. We focus on that a lot….the still small voice. God wasn’t in the noise. When you get quiet, you’ll hear the still small voice.
Which can be true. But sometimes He is in the wind and the fire and the earthquake. It’s not just about the still small voice here. It’s about what the still small voice said.
God didn’t answer his question. The still small voice didn’t tell him why. God didn’t even remove the threat. Jezebel still wanted to kill him.
What God did was give him something to do. He connected him back to his purpose.
Would we like to know why things happen? Sure! Do we NEED to know why? Not really.
We just need to trust that no matter what we face, He is with us and He’ll walk us through anything.
And if you’re having a hard time letting go of wanting to know why, try letting Him connect you back to your purpose. It might not change anything, but it could change everything. At the very least, it will give you something else to think about. 🙂
Life is not always easy or comfortable. It doesn’t always go as planned. Sometimes things go terribly wrong and we don’t see God’s favor and blessing overtaking us.
But as long as the glorious presence of the Lord is with us, we really do have all we need.