by Scott Whitaker
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.”
(Genesis 1:1 NIV)
We’ve all experienced those questions before. You know, the ones you can’t answer or don’t want to think about, so you ignore them or deflect the conversation to something else.
But you can’t do that with a grandchild’s question. Not for long. And the same for your child—it’s just that with a grandchild you’ve been given that second chance to get some things right.
Well, our younger Granddaughter Ellie Kate’s question, from a few years ago, came out of nowhere. We weren’t talking about anything related to what she all-of-a-sudden came up with to ask me.
We were hanging out in the kitchen laughing and doing things you do when blessed with a visit by precious Granddaughters. Occasionally she’d sing out a few “Alleluias” for no apparent reason—except to bring a warm smile to our faces and hearts. And then Ellie Kate threw her question out.
“Gran,” pausing for a moment to make sure she had my attention as she finished climbing up onto the center island in the kitchen. I could tell from the inflection in her voice that something serious was on the way.
“Yes, sweetie.” I readied myself for what was coming.
“Gran—how was God born with nobody?”
Anybody want to take a stab at that one? Please!
She knows about the Baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph. But this question was not about the birth of Baby Jesus, it was about the Baby’s Daddy—God the Father. How was He born with nobody already there?
Brief explanations and catchy phrases related to the theories of Creation and other things danced through my head. For a minute I thought about asking her if she wanted to watch a movie.
But there it was, still hanging in the air—
“Gran—how was God born with nobody?”
And you’ll love my first response— “I don’t know, sweetie.”
“I don’t know,” has become a staple answer for me as I have grown a bit older and have come to realize the wisdom of that for me in many situations. I have learned that it is not always necessary that I demonstrate my knowledge (or lack of knowledge may be more appropriate) on a particular issue or subject.
And then with the benefit of a moment of reflection, I repeated—
“I don’t know sweetie.”
But then I added—“That’s what’s so great about God—somehow He started everything and made all this in the world, and you and me, and Himself, and one day He’ll tell us how He did it. One day He can answer your question about ‘how He was born with nobody.’”
No deflection there, I hope. Except that I was deflecting it all toward God. Along with an honest admission of ignorance. Stemming from a total lack of knowledge.
And it makes sense since we are standing before the God of the universe, the God who created it all. Understanding it all is not possible—but trusting and believing in Him, is.
So just believe. Trust. One day He’ll tell us everything.
I’m sure in the days ahead our granddaughters will continue to amaze, bewilder and challenge us with the questions they hang in the air for us to ponder. There are still a few out there which their daddy threw out when he was younger—still in need of an answer.
Maybe not today. But for sure, one day. God’s got all the answers.
In His Name--Scott
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