Kids Say the Darndest Things


I’ve noticed how my three young grandsons have become professional questioners? At some point in their development when everything is normal, life is humming along quite nicely, a shift took place. “Grandad, why is the sky blue? How did it get to be blue anyway? Is there something behind it?” “Grandawn, why is yellow called ‘yellow’?” This how they roll now.

I remember Art Linkletter, long ago, back in the 1960’s had a very popular daily variety show with a segment titled, “Kids Say the Darndest Things,” took this childlike questioning routine and reversed it to get laughs. Many times the endless questions children ask parents is no laughing matter and can sometimes be a source of irritation and nuisance because kids ask the darndest things. The reason, kids ask their parents questions, is because they believe their parents truly know the answers. In a strange sort of way, it is the asking of the question that shows their greatest sense of faith. This has all kinds of implications.

For instance, some people believe that to question God is the ultimate form of disobedience. Questioning God shows a lack of faith. I don’t agree. Time and again in the Bible you come across people who cried out to God. They cried out to God because they knew that He had been faithful in the past, and that they needed Him to be faithful once again in the present. “God, where are you? I thought you were a loving God. Where’s this loving God that I thought you were?” Perhaps you’ve asked the same kinds of questions. When you ask hard questions of God, you are standing in the flow of this ancient tradition, one that is captured time and again in the Scriptures. “How long, LORD? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire? Lord, where is your former great love, which in your faithfulness you swore to David?” (Psalm 89:46, 49)

It is in the asking of your honest, gut-wrenching questions, the ones filled with doubts and frustration, that you are expressing a deep sense of faith. You are His child! Cry out to God! When in your frustration and doubt, cry out to Him because you believe that He is the only one who can do something about it. Wherever you are in your faith journey, know that you can come to your Heavenly Father honestly with your questions, your doubts and your frustrations. It just might be the most faith-filled thing you can do.

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