The need to know ‘why?’ is one thing that can limit the soul’s ability to do God’s Will.
As humans, we never stop asking ‘why?’, that is ok. We just can’t let our need to know ‘why?’ Get in the way of our trust. Asking ‘why?’ in order to move is simply demanding an answer. And, they’ll always be more questions to follow.
I look at myself. My Road of Faith was filled with ‘why God?’ moments. Always ‘why?’ When my daughter was first diagnosed with Lupus Nephritis, my first response to God was ‘why?’ ‘Why would You do this to me when…?’ Read my book, “I Knew His Voice” for the story of that moment. In the months following this, I prayed, a lot. But, as I prayed, intentionally or not, and mostly unknowingly, I was say to God, ‘I’ll pray like this as long as You give me in return…’
David was asked to be king … Esther was told to go to the king … Mother Mary was asked to bear the Son of God – none asked ‘why?’ The disciples don’t ask ‘why?’ When Jesus called them, or “I’ll follow you but let me know why so I can trust.” They simply went – many note they dropped everything and followed Him.
It took my daughter crashing in the ICU for me to realize my error. My “as long as..” prayers and ‘why?’ demands had caused me to lose all trust in God. Despite His very visual and vocal reminders to just trust Him, I prayed myself away from that.
I’ve discovered reading my journals of those days leading up to that night and the months in which I walked through my dark night, this wasn’t a crisis of faith, it was a crisis of intellect. My need to know ‘who?’ was causing my fall. And, the ‘why?’ behind the events.
It was only later and in the years since that I’ve discovered a different ‘why?’ Demanding an answer is antithetical to trust. Trust is not trust if I need to know why before I trust. The truth of the soul comes down to “regardless of why, I am going to trust in You.”
When God spoke during the Transfiguration, He didn’t say, “listen to My Son, if you understand.’ No, He simply said, ‘listen to Him.’ (Mark 9:7)
Don’t ask ‘why?’ Just trust that He knows why.
