Today, over the phone, a friend was telling me a story about her nephew. Seems the young boy asked his folks over dinner, “How does God make people?” As his parents looked at each other, trying to decide how to answer without overanswering, he continued, “I think he takes bones, covers them with juicy meat and wraps it all up in skin.” Breathing a sigh of relief, they affirmed that was a reasonable understanding.
It is amusing when these episodes arise. The child asks a reasonable question, but one which is beyond their maturity to understand or accept. Often, they are actually asking a different question than the one the adults are thinking has been asked, and so they risk answering the wrong question and making things more uncomfortable or confusing. Wise parents respond by asking what the child thinks the answer is, and by that gauge how much of what type of information the child is really seeking.
As my friend related the story, we laughed at how often we ask God questions that, well, are beyond our maturity to understand or accept, and that, perhaps, that is sometimes why He seems to be silent in answering our prayers. He’s not panicked like many parents; He just doesn’t waste our time with storks, birds, bees.
“The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law.” -Deuteronomy 29:29
SDG
No comments:
Post a Comment