Every so often (very often!) I have to swing round and remember my why.

Because it’s often the uncertainties and the questions that keep pulling us back to God.

He not only has answers, He IS an answer. For all the “what’s?”, the “when’s?” But most especially for the “why’s?”

If anyone ever had reason to pull the “Why?” card it was Job.

God’s answer? 

“Look at Me, Job. Look at all I have created!” 

In the face of majesty and mystery the “why” question no longer appeared so monumentous to the heartbroken man of Uz.

We are all moving forward. We all carry dreams and desires. Many of them God-planted, some of them probably not, and the road toward fulfilment is strewn with what’s, where’s, when’s, how’s and why’s.

That’s the reason we swing the chariot round and gaze again on the One who makes sense of the seemingly senseless and utterly relentless march of time that we inhabit.

And in these murky waters I seek clarity. 

Will it be found in a new idea? A product I snatch at bargain, or a conversation with the crowd? 

No, dear friends, it will be discovered in the secret place of the most high.

One of my favourite portions of the Book is Psalm 73. It’s a question.

“But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; My steps had nearly slipped. For I was envious of the boastful, When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.”

Psalm 73:2–3 NKJV

“Why, Lord?”

Why them, not me? How does this thing work? Why is life so expletively unfair?

Asaph continues to rail against the injustice he perceived…

Then comes the verse that should be gilded in gold. Just a few words that change everything and lift the eyes above the fray.

“Until I went into the sanctuary of God, then…”

Psalm 73:17 KJV

In the sanctuary.

Here is the place of your significance.

Right here in the presence of your Lord and Lover is your place of success.

Not even death can steal your victory, much less a few failures and questions on the way there.

Brothers and sisters, among others, Jesus promised two things. 

1. A good dose of tribulation,

And 2. That He would be with us in and through it all.

One this past week I have faced a few first-world disappointments that I have had to climb over in my heart.

In asking the questions I was reminded once more that the ‘why’s’ lead us back to the only One qualified to answer those kinds of queries. 

And then, like Asaph, we remember.

Sometimes I wait too long for the “Until”.

I should make it a practice to practice “Until” before I need an answer.

That way I’m certain I could confidently bypass many diversions, disappointments, and digging-out-of-emotional-holes, before they even occur.

My advice today? 

Swing round into the Sanctuary.