Outgrowing "Why?"

As kids, one of the first questions we learn how to ask, and then ask over, and over again is, why. It's a short question, but often it is the hardest to answer. When we are kids, we ask why for everything. "Why can't I stay up later?", "Why do I have to eat my vegetables?", "Why can't I hit my sister?"...over and over again. And then, when we received an answer, like, "you can't stay up late because you need to get a good sleep so that you can have a lot of fun tommorrow"...we would respond once again with "Why?". As annoying as this practice is, it's human nature to know why things happen. Unfortunately, as we get older, we tend to stop asking why. We tend to just go with the flow, not really sure why things are happening, but too embarrassed to ask about it. The other unfortunate thing is, that the things that would make us ask why, are much bigger and more important, and yet we think it is childish, or worse yet, un-Christian to ask why, especially of God. Well, I have news for you...it's ok to ask God why.
God want's to hear from us. We are his children, and he cares for us. Like a parent answers all of the child's "Why?" questions, God too, wants us to ask him. Fortunately for us, he never gets sick of hearing ut...unfortunately for us, he doesn't always answer it. At least, not the way we want.
In my life, I have had a lot of why questions to ask God. Some of them, have been answered, others haven't been yet, and some never will be fully answered. Those are the most frustrating ones, the ones that will never be fully answered...and we know that, and have to continue living our lives, asking the question "Why?" anyway. For me, those unanswered questions are about death. Why did Nate (Kristi's brother), have to die? Why did Paul (Kristi and My good friend) have to die? They were so young, had so much life left to live. GOD WHY!? I'll never know. I won't wake up one day and have the answer. Instead, I get up every day, watch Kristi and her family struggle, knowing that their brother, son, husband, isn't coming back. It's hard to watch, really hard to watch, and there's nothing I can do. It's the same with my friend Paul. I see his picture on our fridge every day, and remember the good times we had together, in the short time that I knew him...and I ask "Why?". And all I hear is silence. Talk about frustrating!
The important thing isn't that we get the answers. The important thing is to ask the question. If you think of all the great hero's in the Bible, they all asked why? Ok, well maybe not all of them, but a lot of them did. Moses asked "Why me?" when he was at the burning bush, Abraham asked "Why don't I have a son?", before Sarah became pregnant. Even Jesus asked, "Why have you forsaken me?" as he hung on the cross. Why is a great question, one that needs to be asked, regardless of whether we will get the answer.
I don't know what's happening in your life right now. I don't know if things are going good, going bad, sort of "meh" (as the kids say), or what. But I do know, that we can always talk to God, and always ask him why? I remember when I was 13, living in Ontario. I found out that my family would be moving to Manitoba. I was angry, frustrated and confused. I spent months, every night crying out to God, asking why. It wasn't until I finally got to Manitoba, met the people, found amazing friends, that I got a glimpse of why, and it was good. The answer to Why isn't always good though. Another story, while I was at Bethany College, I auditioned every year for the Bethany Players (the travelling drama team). And every year, I made it to the final cut, but didn't make the team. In my mind, I was the best actor there (which wasn't true...but I wasn't the most humble of people), so I asked why. To this day, i still don't know the complete answer, but I do know that God wanted me to grow in a different way. It hurt a lot. I still remember the pain of not seeing my name on that list, but it was for a reason.
So I encourage you...ask why. When things are good, or when things are bad, ask God why. He may tell you right away, or he may never tell you, but things happen for a reason, and unless we ask, we will never find out why.