The Answer to a Thousand Whys
by Oliver Carlos
When I was a little boy, I asked my mother a lot of questions. Most of them were about science or nature, like why is there night and day, how far are the stars, is there a man on the moon, and what makes the sky blue? I think that’s the reason why she bought me a children’s encyclopedia called “Childcraft”. I found all the answers to my questions there. Maybe she wanted me to find out the answers by myself instead of her spoon-feeding them to me. Learning is better that way — that I figure things out firsthand.
As I grew older and became a teen, questions continue to pop in my head, tougher questions at that, most of them are why questions. I guess my Mom couldn’t really answer them, so instead of asking her, I started directing my queries to God. Examples of my questions were: Why am I unattractive to girls even though my parents kept on telling me that I’m handsome? Will I grow up to be six feet tall and play in the PBA? Why do I have an ugly singing voice? Why didn’t I make the school choir? Why don’t I have dancing skills? Why can’t I sing and dance like Gary V? Will I find a wife and live happily ever after?
When I became a young adult, my questions increased in quantity and quality. I started to see the real world and I asked God why are there so much injustice? Why do bad things happen to good people, and good things happen to bad people? Why do I belong to the have nots, while others belong to the haves?
Now that I’m middle aged and about to enter senior citizenship, more and more questions abound. Yes, many questions did get answered along the way, but many still linger around, like: Why am I still poor while my contemporaries are now big-time? Am I wrong in my choice of career? What if I pursued this and that when I was younger, would I end up better off? Why didn’t I think of that before?
Expect tougher questions to come in one’s twilight years. Questions like: Why can’t I do the things I used to do? Why did certain friends and loved ones die? Why do I have this disease? Of all people, why do I have this problem? How will I die? Do I deserve all these that has happened in my life?
These are normal questions a normal person may ask. The Book of Job presented a similar scenario. Job underwent extremely tough moments; he threw a lot of “why” questions to God and demanded answers. God didn’t show an answer to Job. God instead showed himself to Job. God didn’t give an answer, instead he gave Job a question. And that question was “Will you trust me?” That’s the bottom-line of the long discourse in Job 38–41.
In all your whys, God is saying to you, “Will you trust me in carrying you in the days ahead?” If you are feeling that life is unfair, God will be asking you, “Will you trust me that my justice will see you thru? Will you trust me that I am doing what is best for you?” When you worry that your world is falling apart, God will be asking you, “Will you trust me that I am in perfect control?”
In Job 40–41, God concluded his dialogue with Job. He graphically showed Job that he is the sole master of the Behemoth and the Leviathan. They are the largest and the fiercest of the land and sea animals, respectively. We don’t know what exactly these creatures are, but based on their descriptions, they look like gigantic monsters. They symbolize the biggest, most overwhelming, most ferocious trouble you may ever have in life! Yet God subdues and holds them like a master controlling a little puppy.
When Job realized God’s point, he wholeheartedly expressed his emotions in Job 42:5 (MSG):
“I admit I once lived by rumors of you;
now I have it all firsthand — from my own eyes and ears!”
Job is saying here that God is not someone whom we only try to get head-knowledge of, but rather, he is someone whom we need to know personally. God is meant to be experienced. We can know his sovereignty, power, love, and friendship by trusting him. He will reveal his character to us firsthand, if only we let him to do so.
Friend, every time you feel troubled, just hear God’s voice saying, “Will you trust me?”
