Rich was asked to present the Invocation at Rebecca's high school event.
Why?
The toddler reaches out his small hand and takes hold of his momma’s pants leg. He gives a mighty tug.
“Mommy, whatcha doing?”
“Dishes”
“Why?”
“Because they are dirty.”
“Why?”
“Because we ate our lunch off of them.”
“Why?”
“Because we couldn’t eat off the floor.”
“Why?”
“Because your Daddy didn’t mop it as I asked him to.”
“Why?”
“Because he had to go golfing.”
“Why?”
The mother stops, looks down and meets the steady gaze of her son’s beautiful eyes. All the world is found in his eyes – his trust, his love, his wonder at his brand new world. He meets his momma’s gaze and smiles. “Why?”
She lifts her son high over her head, smiles deeply into his face, delighting in the squeals of laughter and love, holds him tight to her chest and responds, “Because. Now go get a book and I will read it to you.”
She sets her son down gently on the kitchen floor – he toddles away to find his favorite “Thomas the Tank Engine” book, crawls onto the sofa and waits for his momma to read him the story he has memorized.
“Why?”
Every parent knows how that one word changes in meaning as the child grows. The toddler asks “why” to get a response, the pre-school child is searching for an answer, the pre-teen is looking for leverage, while the teen usually adds the “not” to the “why” in order to gain advantage, administer guilt and generally wear down the parent.
The college student searches for meaning in life, the newly-wed couple ask for explanations for events, the elderly spouse quietly searches for an answer to loneliness.
“Why?”
Late Summer is a magical time in our society as days grow shorter, nights cooler and vacations end. Labor Day brings the annual exodus of students back to the open doors of waiting classrooms, wandering parishioners return for their Sunday services and the world prepares for the dark slumber of winter.
I like this time of year. I delight and marvel at how wonderful and marvelous God has created the heavens and earth – for His children – for me. I have often pondered on His creation sitting around a late Summer campfire – listening to the night sounds, warmed by the coals and feeling the dark seep into my brain. I look up into the star-filled night and whisper, “Why? Why, God, did you make all of this for us?”
Nature declares the wonder of God, the majesty of a Mighty Creator, a glimpse into the Garden He first created and a foretaste of the Heavenly Garden that will be our eternal home.
The words of the hymn crash over me:
O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
When through the woods, and forest glades I wander,
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees.
When I look down, from lofty mountain grandeur
And see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
And then my mind starts to wander – I see this awesome world – created perfect, yet now dying – dying because of sin. Floods, famines, earthquakes, bridges collapse and mine shafts cave-in. Fires rage uncontrolled, tidal waves sweep beaches clean, hurricanes destroy. People die. Sin raises its serpent head and destroys.
Person attacks person – with words – with actions – the “why?’ is easy – we are sinners and we are bent on self-destruction.
But then I remember –
And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing;
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;
That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!
When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation,
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.
Then I shall bow, in humble adoration,
And then proclaim: "My God, how great Thou art!"
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.”
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!"
