Because I Said So

Because I Said So
By: Dr. Danny Purvis

I have to admit that when I was a kid and I asked my parents why they made a decision I didn’t like, I was generally given an answer I despised. Most times the answer I received was: Because I said so. To say that I was unsatisfied with that answer would be the mother of all understatements. I hated that answer. Even though I was always 100% sure that I was going receive that answer, I was still always amazingly frustrated by it. I guess I was a slow learner. But that’s not true. What I was, was amazingly obstinate. I was always an inquisitive kid and I had fooled myself that my obstinance was rooted in some kind of justifiable indignance at having my inquisitive nature crushed by my parents obvious inability to give me a logical answer. But my obstinance was not rooted in self-righteous inquiry. My obstinance was rooted in my natural disposition to engage in disobedience.

I had fooled myself that the answer, “because I said so”, was issued because there was no logical, reasonable answer to the question in the first place. That my parents had no “good” reason to deny a request and so they simply defaulted to an answer that would hide this reality. Once I became a Christian, however, it all became crystal clear to me. Note that I did not say that this clarity emerged once I had kids of my own. This entire understanding came at the point where I had become a Believer…once I had been transformed into a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17)…once I had the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16)…once I saw everything clearly for the first time through the prism of Scripture. How did I more clearly so clearly? Because God gives us this very same answer many times in Scripture.

Do you know what sin is? In its simplest form, sin is disobedience. That’s it. Whether it is a simple, fleeting thought that infects our mind or an egregious act ends up as global news…sin is simply disobedience to God and His moral law. And this disobedience leads us to the idea that any answer we’re given by an authority figure is subject to our assessment of that answer. Disobedience breeds arrogance. We deserve an answer. We deserve the right then to explain how that answer is wrong or does not make sense. We. We. We. Our sinfulness will always lead us to question those who have authority over us…especially God. He is not spared from this especially when it comes to “why” questions.

Let me be clear. It is certainly ok for Believers to ask God “why” questions. We are not strictly prohibited from doing so, and there are certainly examples of people doing so in the Bible. One of my favorite examples of this is the prophet Habakkuk. Most of you have probably not read that book of the Bible. You should absolutely read it. The book begins with Habakkuk complaining to God about His inaction against Habakkuk’s fellow Jews who were in the midst of abject disobedience. They were engaging in false worship, paganism, cheating, abhorrent behavior and injustice to the poor. Habakkuk accused God of inaction and was wondering why God was not doing something about it.

And let’s give God credit here. He does answer Habakkuk. He tells him that He sees all of this and that He is not going to engage in inaction. Then God answers Habakkuk even more completely. He tells Habakkuk exactly how He is going to act to punish His wayward people. God tells Habakkuk that He is going to use a powerful pagan nation…one of Israel’s harshest enemies…to execute judgement on sinful Israel. God answers Habakkuk and tells him what He is going to do. Habakkuk’s response? “Why are you doing it that way”? So, Habakkuk accuses God of not caring and not doing anything…then complains about how God was going to do it. That is who we are. That is the nature of disobedience and sin. But here’s the deal.

Many times God answers us by saying: Because I said so. We don’t like that answer. Why? Because we feel we deserve an answer. The reality? God does not owe us one single thing. Not one. He is gracious enough to often give us answers. Our response many times? Just like Habakkuk. We don’t like the answer. We want a different one. Why? We deserve a different one. No…we don’t. We do not deserve anything from God except the punishment for our sin. We certainly do not deserve that the God of the universe explain Himself to us. In His mercy, He does…all throughout Scripture He does. Until He doesn’t. In Romans 9 where God is explaining to us His sovereignty over salvation, we see things like: “Jacob I loved and Esau I hated.” “I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.” “He hardens whomever He will”.

Then Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, anticipates that objection we will, in our obstinance, will naturally proclaim. If all of this is true, “why does He still find fault”? And I absolutely love the response we get in Romans 9:20: “But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, ‘Why have you made me like this?’” In other words, we are seeing that we will ask God why salvation, election, justice, sin, redemption, and punishment work like this? The answer from God? Because I said so. That’s it. And that’s all it should be. It’s easy to trust God when everything is going great…and our comprehension is complete. It’s easy to trust when we completely understand the thing we are supposed to trust. To be honest, that’s not trust.

It's only trust when you believe in the face of a massive lack of understanding. When none of what is happening makes sense. When every cell in your body is screaming out to not trust. Complete understanding doesn’t strengthen trust…faith in the midst of a complete lack of understanding is what strengthens trust. When God says; Because I said so, what He is saying is…trust Me. He knows it doesn’t make sense to us. But it makes, of course, complete sense because He is the author of it in the first place. God knows that His children are not immune from pain, suffering, and confusion. He tells us in Isaiah 55:8 that: “my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways.”  We are incapable of understanding all of the “whys” of God’s actions. So He gives us the ultimate answer that should give us more peace than we can possibly imagine: Because I said so.

-Dr. Danny Purvis