Why?????

The "why?" game has officially been discovered by my two-and-a-half year old daughter. Every other conversation, especially one that involves me telling her to do something, evolves into either really creative banter or complete frustration, with me finally saying, "Because I said so!"
Does she ask why because she is really curious, or because she knows it pushes my buttons? Maybe she is trying to stall for time so that she doesn't have to do what I have asked her to do.

I was considering her motives and recalling one of our many recent conversations, when I began to wonder if this is what God goes through when we ask, "Why?" And maybe I play the "why?" game with God for the same reasons that my daughter does with me. Sometimes I am curious...Why am I here? Why am I so blessed? Why did you bring that person into my life? Why did you spare my life through all of the stupid things that I've done?

But sometimes I'm just being a brat, stalling for time or rationalizing why I shouldn't have to do what He wants me to do...Why do I have to tithe? Why do I have to love that person? Why do you forgive everyone (rapists, murderers, child molesters) that accepts your Son as their Savior? Why can't I judge them? Why can't you show me something miraculous, so that I know that it was you and only you that did it? Why does my friend have cancer?

God must be patient and perfect! Imagine the "why" questions that he fields each day. And we see the world as only our own world most of the time, not the lives of every Earth inhabitant over the span of time. Just as it is impossible right now for my daughter to understand why I have to go to work each weekday, it's impossible for us to comprehend God's reasons...but someday that will all be clear to her, and to us.