I’m really enjoying this phase of life where my children think I know everything.
Okay, maybe not everything. They know there are certain subjects on which Daddy is the expert, like electricity and computers. But for the rest of life, Mommy has trustworthy answers to everything.
When Ellie was three, she had a friend I’ll call Jane. Jane often told Ellie things that couldn’t possibly be true. One day, when they were playing together, Ellie came to me upset. “Mommy, Jane says she has more Hello Kitty stuff than me,” Ellie said.
But it wasn’t true.
“Ellie,” I said, “Jane says she has more stuff because she wishes it were true. She thinks if she says she has more things than you, you’ll be impressed with her.”
“Oh,” Ellie said, satisfied.
That seemed to settle the matter. Ellie returned to play with Jane, and they played happily for the rest of their time together.
I know there will be times, as Ellie gets older, when she questions my assessments of certain people and situations. But that day, she trusted me completely, believing that any answer Mommy would give her would be right.
Maybe that’s part of what Jesus meant when He talked about entering the kingdom as a little child. He knows that as adults, we are all too prone to question God’s ability to accurately assess a situation and to substitute our own judgments for His. Maybe Jesus wanted us to hang onto that childlike faith in God’s wisdom all our lives.
There have been times in my life when I wondered what God was up to, or when I didn’t see how what He was doing could be the best thing. Sometimes, I’ve substituted my judgment for His. Perhaps you have, too.
But what God wants us to learn is not to question Him as we get older. He wants us to continue to trust Him completely and without question, just as a little child trusts her mother.
Though we’re adults now, God’s knowledge and understanding surpass ours to an infinite degree, and always will. So let’s trust Him in any and every situation, not ourselves. Let’s take comfort in the fact that Someone so all-wise and all-knowing watches over us. And let’s thank Him for the fact that He knows everything and takes care of it all so that we don’t have to.
Job 38:18—“Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this.”
Jeremiah 29:11—“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you; plans to give you hope and a future.”