When you were growing up, did your parents ever tell you to get into the car without telling you where you were going? It can be a disconcerting proposition no matter what age you are. You feel lost, helpless and unprepared when you don’t know where you are going or how you are going to get there. We always want to be prepared, don’t we? We want to know what to expect. We like to be in control. I think more parents should tell their kids to just get into the car and tell them, “You’ll find out when we get there.” We know way too much about the plan for the day. We live in a day and age that plans way too much and tries to prepare for every conceivable contingency. We are addicted to needing to know.
By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. (Hebrews 11:8)
In a day-and-age of needing to know everything, we tend to be block-headed and do things our own way. We think we know best. We think we can make it happen. We think our answers are right. We question when God doesn’t follow our plan. When things don’t go our way, we question if God is really good or not. We think the world should spin in our direction and that things should turn out the way we want them to.
You turn things upside down, as if the potter were thought to be like the clay! Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, “You did not make me”? Can the pot say to the potter, “You know nothing”? (Isaiah 29:16)
“Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker, those who are nothing but potsherds among the potsherds on the ground. Does the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘The potter has no hands’?” (Isaiah 45:9)
But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use? (Romans 9:20-21)
The truth is that God is God and we are not. He is the one who has made us. He is the one who calls the shots. He knows what He wants to do with us. He is the one who is in charge. He is the one who loves us. He is the one who knows the number of hairs on our heads. He is the one who was there at the beginning and He is the only one guaranteed to be there at the end.
I wonder what God would say to our situations today (whatever they might be). He might look at you and just say “I know.” He might be silent. He might be waiting to see if you’ll come to Him in humility with your need. He might be waiting for you to be done with your questions. He might be waiting for you to be done with your accusations. He might be waiting for you to just sit still and know that He is God.
“Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him!” Then Job answered the Lord: “I am unworthy—how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth. I spoke once, but I have no answer—twice, but I will say no more.” Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm: “Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself? Do you have an arm like God’s, and can your voice thunder like his? Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor, and clothe yourself in honor and majesty. Unleash the fury of your wrath, look at all who are proud and bring them low, look at all who are proud and humble them, crush the wicked where they stand. Bury them all in the dust together; shroud their faces in the grave. Then I myself will admit to you that your own right hand can save you.” (Job 40:1-14)
If you lay down your questions and give up any argument you might have then you will be released from having to know what’s going on and needing to have the all the answers. Only then will you be released from having to know where you are headed. Then take comfort in the fact that God is God and you are not. Then you will know that He has your best interests at heart and you can just lay down your burdens at His feet and just leave them.