Mat 18:3 And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. 4 Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
Have you ever thought about what Jesus said here and what it means? I have. What are little children like? Innocent? Trusting? Vulnerable? Full of energy? Have you ever seen a little child who was full of questions? Especially, one little three letter word – WHY? No matter what answer you give them their next question is the same thing again - “Why?”
Well, I have been wearing God out with that one. Did you know it's alright to ask God questions, to ask Him why? He is not threatened. He is not intimidated. He is not insulted. I believe He may even like it. Asking God questions removes any question of pride in us. When we ask God a question, we humble ourselves. That is what He said we must do.
QUESTION
Why?
Lord, why are we so precious to you? I know what John 1:14 and John 3:16 and a host of others say, but I still don’t get it. Why?
David even asked, (Psalm 8:4), What is man, that thou art mindful of him?
Father, I don't get it. How can I be so precious to you? Why? What is man that you are mindful of him? Why would you have my substance in mind when I was “... made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth”[1], when you are Master of everything that is? You, who created everything that is, from nothing. You imagined me, you imagined a place for me to live, to have wonders to challenge my mind, a place where I could see the evidence of you all around me. I can’t even imagine it all, but you not only imagined it all, you created it. Then you came to live with men, knowing they would reject you, and knowing they would mistreat you and murder you. You, the Creator of the Universe, did all this - for me - and for everyone who would turn their hearts to you. Why would you do that?
ANSWERS
And He began to give me answers – all true – all verifiable in scripture – and I still didn't get it. I kept asking, “Why?”, and, like a Father with a little child, He kept answering me – until He satisfied my curiosity – until I shut up. So tonight, we're going to look at all the answers God gave me when I asked Him the question, “Father, I just don’t get it, why are we so precious to you? You created me. You created us out of dirt. What is so special about dirt?”
FATHER
H |
e is Our Father[2]. Men are His sons[3] [4], made in His image[5]. “Our Father, who art in Heaven.” Did you know that, before Jesus taught His disciples to pray in this way, there is no record of anyone in the Old Testament calling God “Father”? They prayed to JHWH, to Jehovah Jireh, to El Shaddai, to Jehovah Nissi, to Jehovah Rophe, to Elohim – all the names by which we know Him – but, never, Father. That word that Jesus used, Abba, actually means something more like “Daddy”. Jesus told a parable that illustrated the love of the Father that He knew …
Read Luke 15:11–32
I read about the prodigal son, and I saw the love of the father for his son, and I recognized God the Father, and I recognized me, and I said, “Father, I still don’t get it”.
PLANNER/CREATOR
H |
e saw us when were still being formed, by Him, in the depths of the earth[6]. If He planned us thousands of years ago, don’t you think that He took the time to make what He intended? He fashioned us according to His plan. When He made us, He made us exactly the way He wanted. He made us lovable and beautiful to Him. Most of us tend to be unhappy with how He made us. We always seem to see someone that we wish we looked like or with talents or abilities that we wish we had. We never seem to be able to see our strengths, our positive points. We look on our outward appearance. The Word tells us not to do that. The Word says that He looks on our hearts[7]. I recognize that the Word says my Father planned my earthly body thousands of years before I was born, and my question still was, “Father, why do you care about me so much? Why am I so precious? I still don’t get it.”
LOVE
H |
e is love[8]. So, He loves us[9]. The entire Bible speaks of God's love for His people – first Israel, then His church – all those who turn their hearts to Him. Romans 5:7 “For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8 But God commendeth {exhibited} his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” I recognize that God is love, that His very nature is love, that He loves me because that is His nature, that He sent His Son to die for me, and I really don’t get it. I couldn’t send one of my sons to die for someone. How could He? Especially for despicable sinners of every description. (He sees who He created us to be. He sees who He KNOWS we can be.)
INTERCESSOR
J |
esus, who was with God from the beginning[10] and was sent by Him,[11] prays for us continually[12]. The scripture says that He is the same, yesterday, today, and forever[13]. I believe He was interceding for Adam and Eve in the Garden, when the serpent came to Eve. When Abraham interceded on behalf of Sodom, I believe He was interceding for them. When Moses interceded for Israel, I believe He was also interceding for them. Both Abraham and Moses were conducting themselves like Jesus – the same, yesterday, today, and forever. I know He intercedes for me. I know the Father listens to Him because He is His precious, only begotten Son. “But, Jesus, why do you care so much for me – that you would die for me and, then, intercede for me and for us continually?”
BE WITH HIM
H |
e wants us to be with Him[14]. He told God, the Father, that He wanted all those who believed on Him to be with Him where He was and that they might be one. “Why, Lord?”
SUBSTITUTE/SACRIFICE
H |
e loves us so much that He was willing to die for us[15]. If you had a son who gave his life to save his friends that he loved so much, would you not love his friends? Absolutely, but why would he want friends who were such sinners that it took His blood to wash them clean?
ONE MORE DEEPER
A |
ll these are true, but there is at least one more that seems so much deeper that even these I have already mentioned – and it may not be the deepest reason yet. The Word does say that His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts than our thoughts[16]. It may be that He is not ready for us to know His deepest reasons for all the things we want to know – that there are things that He reserves for us to discover when we are with Him sometime in the eternity of the future.
HOUSES
Y |
ears ago, my wife and I used to go and look at houses under construction and dream about the house we would like to build someday. Imagine: What would you do if someone told you that you could build a house to live in? That they would pay for it? That money was no object? That you could have an unlimited budget? That you could hire a builder and he would build it exactly the way you told him? Would you plan it carefully? Would you use the best of materials, choose the best of cabinetry, fixtures, heating and cooling systems? Would you pick your own colors, hardwood floors, carpets? Would you make sure the landscaping was attractive, that the shrubs and grass were planted carefully and watered properly? Would you pick the best builder you could find and watch over the construction?
TEMPLE
D |
id you know that Jesus spoke of His body as a temple[17]? Did you know that the Word says your body is a temple[18]? More than that, the temple of the Holy Spirit? When God imagined your body, your soul, your spirit, when He planned it all, when you were curiously wrought in the depths of the earth, when He created you in His image, He was creating not just a house, but a temple – a temple for Him to live in, Himself. That is why we are so precious to Him that He would come to earth in the form of His Son and die for us – that we might live.
LIKE HIM
A |
nd then there is the matter of transforming us into His image – closely related to the fact that He is Our Father. You know, He began his plan for you and for me thousands of years ago (at least). He created our physical bodies, but He is far from finished with His plan, with His creative work. It is ongoing. It is a work in progress. Isa 6:1 says, "In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up[19], and his[20] train filled the temple." The train of His robe filled the temple, His robe of righteousness[21]. Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. The train of His robe, His robe of righteousness, filled the temple of my body when I came to Him, confessing my sins.
GLORY
Isa 6:3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.
Isa 43:7 Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.
When we become like Him, we glorify Him – not for His benefit, but for ours – that others are drawn to Him. Everyone that is called by His name was created for His glory.
STILL ANOTHER WHY
I |
believe the explanation that He was building a temple to live in is a good answer, but I could still ask the question, “Why, Father? Why would you want to do something like that? Why would you want to create us as a place for you to live?” (If this were my wife I was asking, I could tell you her answer – so her kids could never move away and leave her and so she would always know what is going on.) I don't know God's answer, but I can tell you why, if I were God, which I am not, but why I might want to do something like that. Have you ever watched a child as they begin to learn things? Have you ever marveled at what they can understand at such a young and tender age? Have you ever enjoyed just seeing them discover life? Have you ever enjoyed their amazement at the things God created? A cat? A bird? A dog? A worm? Have you ever been amazed at something they understood, when you had no clue that they even processed information so maturely? The joy of watching a child discover life, in all its beauty, in all its variety is incredible – and how much more so when it is your child!
UNFORGETTABLE
I |
will never forget the day that I became aware that one of my sons, maybe 3 years old, was not just asking questions, he was drawing conclusions from the answers. That was amazing to me. He was processing the information he received and formulating his own answers to, as yet, unasked questions. He was learning to think for himself.
GOOD ANSWER
A |
s I thought about it, I decided that, maybe the answer my wife would give is a good answer. Maybe that is close to how God feels: so His children will never move away and leave Him. I know, from the Word, that that is His desire. He tells us that. Whenever Israel strayed in the Old Testament, His plea was that they return to Him. And maybe my answer is also a good answer. God made a man and his wife to be one flesh – because neither is complete without the other. Maybe His reasons include both of our reasons plus more of His own. The beautiful thing about it is – He answers our questions and our prayers, but He always seems to leave more for us to discover – with Him.
FIRST ANSWER BEST
S |
o, maybe the answer really is the first answer He gave me – that He is my Father. I just didn’t fully understand what that meant. The composite answer that would have come from my wife and myself relates to the joy of a Father who desires to live with His children and who desires to see life through their eyes and enjoy their awe and amazement as they discover the things that He has created for them to enjoy – to have life and have it more abundantly. For me, just saying that He is my Father didn’t communicate all that He, my Father, really is – at least to my limited understanding. Sometimes, I need things spelled out for me. One of the great things about my Father is – He spells really well.
[1] Psa 139:15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
[2] Mat 6:9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
[3] Exo 4:22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:
[4] 1Jn 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
[6] Psa 139:15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
[7] 1Sa 16:7 But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.
[9] 1Jn 4:10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
[11] Joh 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
[12] Heb 7:25 Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.
[14] Joh 17:24 Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.
[16] Isa 55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
[18] 1Co 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.
[20] Isa 54:17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and their righteousness is of me, saith the LORD.
[21] Isa 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, …
