Because I Said So
My ways are not your ways nor are my thoughts your thoughts. As the heavens are higher than the earth so are my thoughts higher than your thoughts and my ways than your ways.” (Isaiah 55:8-9)
It is the cry of the four year old. Why? Why? Why? Why is the sky blue? Why do I have to brush my teeth? Why do I have to go to school? My uncle called on one of those days and asked what I was doing. I said, “I’ve answered a thousand questions today.” He said, “You wanted an intelligent child and now you have one.” Parents try to keep up for a while, but usually it deteriorates to the point where the frustrated parent says, “BECAUSE I SAID SO!”
God is sovereign. He tells us in Isaiah 55, “my ways are not your ways nor are my thoughts your thoughts. As the heavens are higher than the earth so are my thoughts higher than your thoughts and my ways than your ways.” It is tempting to ask God why things happened. Why did my family member die? Why did someone attack innocent people? Many times we don’t get an answer.
Job questioned God when he was hurting and broken. Here is what God said to him.
38 Then the Lord answered
Job from the whirlwind and said,
2 “Who is this who darkens the divine plan
By words without knowledge?
3 Now [a]tighten
the belt on your waist like a man, And I shall ask you, and you
inform Me!
4 Where
were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell Me,
if you [b]have
understanding,
5 Who
set its measurements? Since you know. Or who stretched the
measuring line over it?
6 On
what were its bases sunk? Or who laid its cornerstone,
7 When
the morning stars sang together And all the sons of God shouted for
joy?
8 “Or who enclosed the sea with doors When
it went out from the womb, bursting forth;
9 When
I made a cloud its garment, And thick darkness its swaddling bands,
10 And
I [c]placed
boundaries on it And set a bolt and doors,
11 And
I said, ‘As far as this point you shall come, but no farther;
And here your proud waves shall stop’?
For several chapters God continues. All the marvels of creation
exist “because He said so.”
Sovereignty is not a concept we understand in our culture. We are
used to getting our way and getting it when we want it. God gets to have the
final say because he created everything, He sustains everything and he redeemed
everything.
When you don’t get an answer or don’t get the answer you want, you
can trust God. Anything that happens to you is in his hand and you will be
taken care of, because He said so.
