In the “Why” is the understanding of our design. I was struck with the thought today that spiritual understanding begins with “Who”, and then “Why”? First we need to know who the creator/designer of the “whatever” actually was or is. Once we make a studied choice about that, then we need to know “Why” the designer created us. What was the purpose he created us for? It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. It only matters what the true creator says. That is why we need the “Who” first, and then we ask that person, and only that person, the “Why”.

So many people struggle with the questions of how we got here and why things are the way they are? I question the mentality of any person who does not wrestle with these questions. They should be wrestled with until we come to a conclusion we are convinced of. To be lazy in these matters would indicate someone not concerned about what he was created for. A person lacking in proper curiosity and desire for truth.

If a hammer had a mind to think, should it not wonder why everyone keeps picking him up and hitting things with him? This may be a silly illustration, but can you imagine? Be the hammer for a minute. You find yourself hanging from something called a toolbelt. And this idiot you’re attached to keeps grabbing you and hitting things! What’s the deal? Who does he think he is? Stop slamming my head into things!

Okay, maybe a little too silly? But it works for me. So I, as the hammer, begin to question how I got here? I discover some superior being known as man created me! I wouldn’t even be here if it were not for him. And he created this soft leather pouch I hang from. And since he created me, I figure he knows why everyone keeps slamming me into things. So I ask him.

He says I am designed in the perfect way to be grasped by the human hand and swung in a manner, over and over again, to “build things”, by fastening things together, and I do not break. And I can be used to tare things down, so something can be fixed, replaced, made better.

Wow! That’s kind of cool, I think. I feel better now that I know the “Why”. That helps a lot!

But…what if I don’t want to hit things, or build things? What if I want to cut things like a saw. I love the sound a saw makes as it glides back and forth across the wood. So I told my creator, but he said I’m not designed that way or for that purpose. He said I would be a disaster as a saw. Now I am sad.

But I would not even be here if not for my creator. So, I feel I owe him the respect of his position, and to trust him that he had good reasons for the design he has given. I don’t understand why my creator likes building things, or sometimes break them down, but I do understand why he expects what he does from me. It is “Why” he created me. If I refuse to be a hammer, then why should I even continue being?

Silly illustration, but the book of Romans says, why should the clay ask the potter why he is made the way he is? Personally, I’m just grateful God wanted to create and give me a purpose. I delight in that purpose. Or at least I do now. When I came to understand just how incredible my Creator is, and that he created me with a wonderful and exalted purpose in mind, I now want to learn how to be the best hammer I can be! And I am honored to do so! It is the least I can do!

Perhaps I am simple minded. And I hear God saying, Compared to Me, yes you are. Trust me. I have a wonderful eternity planned for you as my Bride.

Bride? What is that?

You will see. And you will love it. I promise you. For I am God and there are none other like Me. I do not lie. I created you in your mother’s womb with great care. I have great things in mind for you, if you trust me. Be the hammer I have called you to be and I will exalt you to higher places. Do you trust Me?

And as the Bride, I say: “I DO.”