Why?

February 23, 2023

“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.”
Jer. 31: 3

Ever consider how much of our life is devoted to asking why?  Little children, with their seemingly insatiable curiosity about the natural world, constantly pose this question.  “Why is the sky blue?  Why is that hole there?  Why can’t penguins fly?”  Soon the questions become more personal.  “Why is my hair red?  Why do I have to go to bed so early?”  Sometimes our questions manifest deep disappointment or rejection.  “Why don’t I have more friends?  Why didn’t I make the team?  Why did I lose my job?  Why can’t I ever get ahead financially?”

Some people even dedicate their lives to asking why.  Consider scientists who constantly pose questions and then seek answers by experiment and deduction.  Or psychologists and sociologists who inquire about human behavior, or parents (why did you do that?), or engineers, or lawyers, or policemen.  The list is long.  Inquiry seems to be a natural human attribute.  It extends the mind, satisfies our curiosity, promotes understanding, solves problems, and gives expression to one of God’s gifts.

In this Lenten season, we continue to ask why.  “Why do we do this?  Why did the almighty God, the creator of an enormous, majestic, complex universe that we only feebly begin to comprehend, send his son to redeem me?  Why did Christ die for me, a seemingly insignificant creature in a world populated by billions?”  Then God answers our questions with the words of Jeremiah, revealing that in his deep and everlasting love he reached out to us with loving-kindness and saved us.

Even more, Paul explains “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions – it is by grace you have been saved” (Eph. 2: 4,5).  God answered our questions even before we asked them.  He loved us and by grace gave us life through Christ.  These are likely the greatest and most profound answers we will ever receive.

Prayer:
Lord, bless us with faith to believe so we may eternally express our gratitude for raising us with Christ.  Amen