Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one…. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
James 1:13‭, ‬16‭-‬17 ESV

I don’t know–three words our pride hates to admit and our curiosity hates to hear. From a young age, we as humans are always asking “why.” Why do I have to do that? Why did she have to say that? Why did this happen? Why didn’t that happen? Why, why, why. We always want to know the why behind it all.

Yet here’s something very important we need to remember: we will never fully understand the why.

Really. There will be more times than not when we will not understand the whys and hows of our lives.

And that’s okay.

Really. It is perfectly acceptable and I daresay expected for us not to have all the answers.

Why? (haha!)

Because God is not reasonable. No, I’m not saying he’s unreasonable; God is extremely reasonable. He’s not cantankerous in the least. What I am saying is that God and His ways will always be beyond our understanding, beyond our reasoning, and beyond our whys.

Because God is God, and we are not.

Really.

Yes, I know life would be much easier if we knew the reasons for everything that has and will happen in our lives. I’d love to know why that person is sick. I’d love to know why that father of five lost his job. I’d love to know why that child had to die. I’d love to know… well, I’d love to know it all.

But I don’t.

Because I am not God.

And I hate to burst your bubble, but neither are you.

So if none of us is God, then none of us will ever know the answers to all the questions in our lives.

And that’s okay.

Really.

We don’t need to know all the answers to the whys and hows because we know the Who who does.

Read Isaiah 55:8-9.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord . For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.

God is God. We are not. This means God’s ways are not and cannot be reasonable to us. So we need to stop trying to explain our inexplicable God using human reasoning. It won’t work.

And I daresay it’s sin. How? Well, when we try to explain away the ways of an inexplicable God, we are robbing Him of His sovereignty and omniscience. We are stripping Him of His Godhead.

And that’s sin. God does not create evil. God will not lie. God is not man that He will justify evil for the sake of good. God is God. We are not.

So no, I cannot explain today why you got sick. No, I cannot give you a good reason why that accident happened. And no, I certainly won’t minimize the death of your loved one by attaching human reasoning to an unreasonable situation.

Sure, I wish I could explain why. I wish I could explain how. I wish I could put my arm around you this very moment and give you the perfect reason for everything going on in your life and in the lives of those you love. But I can’t. So I won’t.

Yet here’s what I do know: God. God is God. God is good. And God’s ways and reasons will never be reasonable to our finite minds. Never.

And that’s okay.

I am not sure what you are going through today. I am not sure what wall stands before you. I am not sure what sickness plagues your household. But of one thing I am sure: You are not alone. God has always been and always will be right by your side. Even when you don’t understand. And I daresay especially when you don’t understand.

For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38‭-‬39 ESV