Recently, I came across an interesting story on my Facebook news feed of a mother who had a rather interesting way of dealing with her son's newfound "independence". "I make money now", he bragged, as he tried to throw off her influence in his life. Not wanting to release him into the wild with such a childish attitude, she sought to show him that a part time job earning less than minimum wage isn't going to help him. So, she confiscated as many of his luxuries as she could find, leaving him only the basics. A few comfortable clothes, a clean bed, his toothbrush etc. And a note, explaining to him that, since he is now an independent man, he must earn his living. The price of his food, his portion of the electricity bill, and even his rent, were methodically calculated, and served to him as a "bill", which of course he had no method of paying.
Every child suffers this condition. When we're so young, we think we know it all. I remember when I was young, no older than 8 years old, we got a scanner for the computer, and I thought I could solve all our problems. Let's just copy all our money! Then I can have all the toys and sweets I want. Uno problemo: Even if we did have a complex enough printer to make convincing bank notes, counterfeiting is a very serious crime, and currently carries a penalty of a decade in prison.
From making money to making money, it's clear younger children don't have an especially accurate view on the world. But it's surprisingly rare for us to understand that even adults have this shortcoming. See, one way or another, we're all fallible. No human being enjoys the privilege, nor the benefits, of omniscience. And we know it. Everyone makes mistakes. We make mistakes. And we tell others "I made this mistake". But it could have been yesterday, and we still somehow think "but now I have it all figured out". And then we walk right into our next mistake.
The distance between man and God is significantly greater than between my mother and my 8 year old self. God, of course, actually is omniscient. Thus, when we say to God "well why didn't you do it like this?", or "why don't you make it like that?", we're actually making a bigger mistake than the snotty brat who suggested that since he has a job, he no longer needs his mother.
Sometimes, we ask these things in pure ignorance. "Why did God make such an evil world?" Open Genesis. "Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day." (Genesis 1:31). So no evil? Nope. No evil. In fact, evil itself is not a thing. You can't "create" it. In reality, evil can only exist as a parasite to what is good. Murder is evil, it can only exist because life is good. Adultery is evil, it can only exist because marriage is good. Theft is evil, it can only exist because wealth is good. So what made God's "very good" world so evil? Us.
And of course, the really good thing here is that even this brings about more good. Scripture says there is more joy in Heaven over a single penitent sinner than over many who need no repentance (Luke 15:7). Forgiveness, mercy, grace, even justice, these are extreme forms of goodness that can only exist once evil has been present. Thus, even though good things like free will naturally allow evil to exist, and to some degree even make it inevitable, they actually make good greater.
But even when our assessment of what God does is accurate, we end up questioning His wisdom, as if somehow we would do it differently. "Why'd you give this command?", "Why'd you deliver this punishment?", "Why will you cover this sin?", "Why won't you forgive this person?", or even "why won't you just show up and make everyone believe rather than just giving us a book? (And a shed load of evidence that gives us due cause to believe in you)"?
Now, that's a lot of "whys", and I've phrased it like that quite deliberately. See, there are other ways these things manifest. "If there was a God, He wouldn't do it this way", or "if I was God, I would do it this way" etc. But the whole attitude centers around one simple premise: We think we know what we actually don't. We rarely, if ever, know what God knows.
Personally, lacking the humility of God, I can't help thinking I'd troll atheists every so often if I was Him. They're standing on stage denying my existence? I'll creep up behind them, playfully tickle them, poof back out of visibility, and leave them to blame some elaborate prank by a stagehand or some other excuse. But maybe I wouldn't. See, if I was God, I'd know what God knows. And if I knew what God knows, I'd know why He doesn't troll atheists. And if I knew why He doesn't troll atheists, I wouldn't troll atheists. So, not being God, why would I assume any different? I know that I don't know what He knows, but I know He knows what He knows. So isn't it rather bratty of me for criticising Him as if He doesn't know what He knows?
In the absence of omniscience, the wisest of adults will always be children compared to God. Therefore, true wisdom is in having the humility to trust Him as children trust their parents. Coincidentally, this is the very analogy Jesus uses: "...“Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me." (Matthew 18:3-5).
A child, living under their parents roof, will naturally enjoy all the blessings and protections that come with it. Even the bratty teen in the introduction was never outside of his mother's love. She disciplined him by removing the luxuries and having him earn them back, but she never withdrew completely. The bill was not real, she had no intention of charging him more money each month than he had yet earned in his lifetime. And, thankfully, he actually learned his lesson, even handing over other luxury items she had missed as a show of good faith, and they worked out their differences. But suppose he hadn't. Imagine if he grew up, rejected his mother, and continued to live like a brat. How far is he getting? Let's be honest: If poverty doesn't get him, the law will.
We will never get out from under God's roof. We are creations of God, living in a creation of God, interacting with creations of God, living on creations of God, sustained by God. There's no escape. Thus, the penalty for rebelling against Him is, inevitably, going to be worse than rebelling against good parents. First, we receive corrective discipline, but failing this, we lose the protections and blessings.
The irony is, we're pursuing these protections and blessings, and God is pleased to give them, but we reject Him for daring to deliver them properly. We all want wealth, comfort, pleasure, and God gives us wealth, comfort, and pleasure. But we're not supposed to steal. We're not supposed to covet. We're not supposed to be lazy. We're not supposed to overindulge. We're not supposed to be sexually immoral. These are ungodly ways to receive and enjoy Godly rewards. And the result is the loss of them. It's like winning the lottery. You suddenly have an instantly large sum of money, then it's gone almost as quickly, while your counterparts are out there earning a smaller amount of money and using it wisely.
Now, I'm not saying don't play the lottery (although I must question the wisdom of doing so). What I am saying is there's a right and stable way of doing something, and a wrong and destructive way of doing the same thing. And God wants the good for us. But the only way we're going to get it is His way. Our way doesn't work, because it is ignorant. We can't be saved by the very thing we need saving from. Instead, ultimately, what we need is Jesus. We may not fully understand why, exactly, God chose to save us by means of a cross, or why He chose a book to tell us about it. What we do know is we are not the gods we tried to be. Satan told us "...your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:5). And now, after 6,000 years of death and destruction, we think we have finally achieved that? Don't be a spiritual brat. Humble yourself as a child, and enter the Kingdom of your Father.