By: Erin Weidemann
“You’re on a need to know basis and you don’t need to know.”
I cringe. My mom used to say this to me all the time when I was a kid. I used to think, well that’s annoying.
Now that I am a mother myself, I understand that it might be the response that makes the most sense after being asked the same questions over and over. I can still see myself looking up at her, confused and annoyed, while I mulled over just what it was that I didn’t “need to know.”
When I spent a little longer thinking about it, I typically heard her say this when I was trying to butt my nose in where it didn’t belong; I mostly heard it when I was trying to sniff out some adult-type gossip that was arguably not for a child’s ears. I speculate that she kept these bits of information from me because, plainly, they weren’t any of my business. That didn’t make me any less curious though, and I usually left those one sided conversations feeling disregarded and foolish for asking.
Isn’t that just the funniest metaphor for my relationship with God, though?
I’m tugging at the bottom part of His robe and asking, “So, what’s that all about? Come on. Tell me what’s up.” He’s shaking his head and smiling as He looks down at me. “You’re on a need to know basis,” He says gently, “and you don’t need to know.”
Somehow, He says it a little more sweetly than my mother did.
The truth is that we want to know what God is up to. We’re nosy. We want Him to fill us in on the details, all the juicy little particulars so we can be in on the work He is doing.
It can be frustrating to be on the outside; I know as a young girl that was never a fun way to feel. But really, we don’t need to know what God is doing. We want to know, but even if he let us in on the specifics, what exactly do we think we’re going to do? Help?
Hey, God, you know what? I’ve got a really fantastic suggestion for you. No.
How about this useful piece of advice that You’ve yet to consider? Nope.
It’s comical that even though I don’t need to know the details, even though I do know He is in control of everything, I always seem to forget that when the curious, interesting, or challenging situations arise. Is it really that hard to remember? Yes, it is. It is because, for whatever reason, I feel like I’m capable. I’m a helpful person. Really, it’s because I think I’m a bigger deal than I actually am. And He doesn’t need my help.
This is why we have to remind ourselves, and say it out loud so we can remember. God is the beginning and the end. He is the Almighty One, and the plan is His. It’s for Him to know, and for us to experience. He has laid it out ahead of time: every problem, every solution, and all the parts of the plans in between that we can’t possibly know or understand; we can’t because we aren’t meant to. We are meant to and made to put our trust in Him. We were created to lower ourselves and to lift Him up, to glorify Him to praise His holy name. We’ve got to remind ourselves every day that just because we can’t see the reasons for things most of the time, it doesn’t mean there isn’t one.
This life isn’t for us to know. Simply, it’s enough for us to kneel.
Photo Cred: Milada Vigerova
Erin is an enthusiastic and goofy mom to two children, one of them with paws. She is a wife, author, teacher, former college athlete and a five time cancer survivor. Her heart is in Seville, Spain, though she calls Encinitas, CA home. In her spare time she enjoys going to the beach with her husband and daughter, coaching softball, and pretending she can bake. She loves eating, laughing, and volunteering at Sunday school. Alongside her husband, she is the co-founder of Bible Belles, an organization committed to teaching girls about the female heroes of the Bible.
