Because I said so...

Do you remember the times when you were a kid and that's the answer you got. "Because I said so." "But Mom, that's not fair." It didn't matter that life wasn't fair because of what you weren't getting. Your Mom, your Dad, the parents around you who God choose to raise you, had the power and authority to let you know how it was going to be.

I admit I didn't always understand that. I still don't think I do sometimes. The intellectual in me as a child would respond, "I know that life's not fair, but you can do something to make it more fair? Can't you?" You see to me there was some grave lack of justice going on. Whatever the situation was, I deserved more. But my Mom didn't see it that way. Your parents probably didn't either, and so we were given the ultimate response to all our endless childhood "How come?" and "Why?"questions: "Because I said so."


Romans 9:18 says "Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy and he hardens whom he wants to harden." We've heard that before in scripture, but look at what Paul goes on to say: 19 "One of you will say to me: 'Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?'" These are great questions. Honestly, if God, the omnipotent, sovereign, omniscient being that He is chooses to do something, then who are we to stop Him? But then, why are we to blame for those things, it's not like we are going to resist His will (the sovereign one that always comes to pass)? Are we?

But Paul goes on to say "But who are you, a mere 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 noble purposes and some for disposal of refuse?" In other words, who am I to tell my maker and God what to do? Am I confused about who has the authority here?

This doesn't sit well with me. Does it you? Would God really harden a heart? Would he really do that?

I believe that it's difficult for us to balance God's nature at times. We call Him loving and gracious, but forget that He also must be equally just. We call Him "our Father" but forget that we should also fear Him. A.W. Tozer says "All of God's acts are consistent with all of His attributes... All God does agrees with all that God is."

God has the power to act and do anythings He wants. We cannot stop Him, we cannot control Him. Whatever He chooses to do is the perfect thing to do, it's the just thing to do.

We don't deserve anything from God. We're all sinners right? (Rom 3:23) If it were just up to God's justice, we would all be dead, but God is equally merciful, that's why we have a chance of redemption. He sent Jesus, He is the way to reconcile ourselves of sin, to God.

This seems to be a fairly grim outlook on life? Yes, and no. Remember He is both merciful and just. We don't deserve anything we've been given by God, it's only by His grace.

That's what I'm thinking on today. God's grace. If you rely on God's grace too much, maybe you should think more on His justice. If on His justice and think He isn't a loving a merciful God. Think then on His grace. He is a personal God.

Today I'll remember that I'm not owed anything, but desire to love the Lord because of his mercy and grace on me through faith. It's a perfect balance. But in the end God is and always will be God, and you can't argue with "Because I said so."