Because I Said So

 A couple of weeks ago, as the hallways of our house were filled with the patter of grandchildren’s feet, we had to establish a few rules.  Hold the railing when you come down the stairs.  No standing up in the bath tub.  No scootering or bike riding without a helmet or an adult watching.  

And when Mommy or gramma or Papa, says no, “It means no.” 

I love baking with our three-year-old granddaughter.  Usually I measure, and she dumps the ingredients into the mixer.  And sometimes under my supervision, she does both.  As I placed a cookie sheet into the oven one morning, I said, “Stay where you are, Sweetie.  The oven is very hot.”

As a curious little monkey, Maggie started to slide down the kitchen stool to watch me a little closer.  “Stand back, please,” I repeated, as her mom walked into the kitchen.  “Do what gramma says,” her mom said.  I knew what was coming next.  “Why?” Maggie replied.

“Because I said so,” Beth said -- the response of every weary mom who hears why, why, why, and “how come?” over and over again.

Many children of the three-year-old variety will challenge you at every turn.  But I have found that those constant inquisitors are the children who inherently know that there is some kind of reason.  They just want to see the purpose behind the rule.  And sometimes, they just want to weigh the balance between obeying and the consequences.

God placed children in this world that we – as adults --would more adequately understand our own relationship with Him.  In what God says in His Word and what God places in my path, it is not just that there is a reason, but that the LORD has a reason -- even in that we cannot comprehend.  There are perhaps 10,000 reasons for that single act of obedience that I cannot grasp at all, far deeper than I can know.  It may impact me, or maybe not me at all, but those who come after.

God gave us rules – standards – not to limit us in any way, but to protect us --sometimes in ways we don’t even see coming.   And when we obey, when we follow Him in our situations and decisions, He directs the outcome.

Why?  Because He has ten thousand interconnected purposes that span eternity.  Perhaps, even more.

…let the purpose

of the Holy One of Israel draw near,

and let it come

         that we may know it.

                                 Isaiah 5.19