Out of the Mouth of Babes

My sweet 4-year-old grandson looked at me with big eyes and said with all sincerity, “Maybe God did it. He’s invisible, but he’s everywhere!”

Ha, ha. There certainly is a lot of truth to that – and who am I to argue with his 4-year-old theology? But we were trying to figure out why there were ‘fireworks’ in the microwave oven downstairs while he and his 6-year-old brother were playing.  After a bit more talking with the boys and their mother, we discovered that they were using the microwave as a timer, just like mom does when she bakes something or puts the boys in a ‘time-out’. They were simply playing a game: one of them pushed a number on the microwave, it automatically started counting down, and the boys jumped on the bed in a nearby bedroom (something they are allowed to do) until they heard the microwave ‘ding’. Then it was the other’s turn to run and push a number. Little did they know that the ‘timer’ they were using was also heating up the microwave with nothing in it, and after a little while it just blew up. How were they to know?

We are still laughing at Logan’s sincere wondering about God’s involvement. It makes me wonder if sometimes we don’t make the same mistake. I know, as you do, that God is omnipresent and has ultimate control of the universe. But could it be that we rush to credit God or point to a Bible verse for something that may have deeper explanations that could be discovered if we would just talk it out? Knowing that God has complete control lends hope and stability to my life in Christ. But I also know that God has made us in his image and given us the gift of communication and relationship, and that in those gifts there are many mysteries to be shared and truths to be uncovered. He’s given us brains to think calmly and rationally through circumstances and events. Let’s use them. And let’s keep talking. The church has always had difficult issues to wrestle with, and we should not be surprised when we struggle with issues today. Instead of dire predictions of storms and divisions, let’s put our heads together and talk, form relationships, and learn how to love one another, as God in Christ has loved us.