Why Ask Why? Well, Because…

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: (2) a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot…’ (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2)

The question that seems to keep coming up in my life lately is ‘why’. The answer always seems to come back to the common denominator of ‘because’. We often ask the question ‘why’ when we are hit with negativity, or what we perceive as negativity in the course of normal events.

‘Why do we get sick?‘, or ‘Why do we have to experience the loss of a loved one?’ are the deepest times we ask ‘why’, though sometimes it’s when we encounter a series of storms in our lives, and then ask ‘Why is this happening to me now?‘, or the more blunt ‘Why is God putting me through this now?’

The bluntest answer given by some is ‘Because, that’s why.’ The malevolence behind ‘because’ can be followed with many explanations; ‘Because there’s viruses that cause us illness and death’, for example, but the as the root answer of ‘why’ is ‘because’, the root cause of the malevolent ‘because’ is the sinful nature of man started back in Genesis 3. Negativity in the ‘why’ started when there was disobedience by man against God’s one rule: ‘Don’t eat from the Tree of Knowledge’ (Genesis 2:17).

Explaining the malevolence is only one half of ‘because’. The other half, the better half, is the benevolence of ‘because’; God’s Love. Not all ‘whys’ are answered with malevolent ‘becauses’, most are actually of benevolence, out of what God provides; ‘Why did I marry my wife?’ is because the Lord placed her in my life at the appropriate time in the appropriate place and we fell in love for the appropriate reasons.

King Solomon ponders all of this as he wrote the book of Ecclesiastes, especially chapter 3. Many know this as the Byrds’ classic song, ‘Turn, Turn, Turn‘, but he simply points out all of our ‘whys’, good and bad’, happen to all of us in general ‘because’ – ‘good and bad’. Most everything we all encounter is similar; we are born, we grow up, we love, we grow old, we die.

Certainly we know there are exceptions. Some don’t live to be old, some of us don’t marry. Some experience many wars and tribulations while others enjoy peace and tranquility for almost all of their lives. But we all go through seasons, the ‘whys’ of heartache as well as the ‘whys’ of joy, through the ‘becauses’ of God’s Love, and the ‘becauses’ of man’s fall into sin.

Ecclesiastes 3 is my ‘go-to’ chapter I read at funerals, ever since I was asked to speak at for a friend’s aunt many years ago, but it pertains to life from beginning to end, from conception to that last gasp before going Eternal.  The chapter as a whole is an encompassing look at mortal life; there is a time for everything in life – and everyone’s life differs.  

Some lives are long, some are cut short (in our eyes).  Some stay within their hometowns for 80+ years while others leave their birthplace to emigrate to a ‘New World’ and travel across a different continent to find where they belong.  There is war and peace, love and loss, achievements and tragedies often all in the expanse of one’s lifetime. 

But we all come into this mortal life with nothing; We are not clothed in anything when we’re born, only our birthday suit.  My mother, when she passed, took none of her possessions with her (although we made sure she was dressed for the occasion).  We stopped regularly visiting Pennsylvania, so I no longer trim the shrubs next to my Dad’s gravesite that I had planted many years ago; he won’t notice whether they are growing wild or are pulled from the ground by the site’s caretakers. 

I’m sure over the course of their lives, our grandchildren will accumulate many things, toss many things aside, meet many people which a few will stay in their lives for awhile or for only a short time, and one day perhaps their children will have to rummage through stacks of bills dated 20 years ago, old photos (albeit digital, not prints), and find love letters and other things that are examples of the lives that preceded them. (Reminder, get rid of all the embarrassing stuff you don’t want your kids to find. Or, leave them as a surprise and have a good chuckle now at their expense later.)

But there is one thing that I’m sure Mary has that she will keep, that I’m certain my Mom still has, and that I pray our children will obtain and keep; the love of Christ and accepting Him as Lord and Savior.  I pray he accepts Christ within her ‘tape measure’ time period, so her eternity is with Christ.  I pray for our daughter, who is still early in her adventure, will turn to Christ as well, and of course our grandson, our son, his family, etc. if they haven’t already. 

Be bold, be the Great Commission Christian and share the Gospel – the Good News of Christ – with others.  That ‘other’ you share with is someone’s daughter, or granddaughter, or great-granddaughter; or mother, grandmother, or great-grandmother.  Now is our Ecclesiastical time to share.