Do You Know Where You’re Going?

Pastor Matt Chandler describes a humorous encounter with his daughter that illustrates the absurdity of assuming we know better than God. Just as a small child couldn’t possibly know better than a parent, neither can we know better than the God of the universe. A preacher should be careful at the same time not to invalidate the place of lament, but ultimately to recognize that while we “see through a glass darkly (1 Cor. 13:10) in this life, eventually we will see “face to face,” and those pains from our earthly lives will be redeemed (Rom.8:28).

My family once made a trip from Dallas to the San Antonio area for my wife, Lauren’s, birthday. On the drive down, my then-four-year-old daughter Audrey piped up from the backseat, “Do you know where you’re going?” I felt insulted. Lauren started chuckling. She just laughed, and then she asked, “Well, do you?” I said, “Please, I’m on I-35. You just take it straight down.” Then Audrey announced, “I think you’re lost.” I said, “I think you’re about to get a spanking.” (I’m just kidding.) The whole thing was kind of comical.

Four-year-old Audrey has gotten lost in the house. She really has. And we don’t have a big house. This is the girl who freaks out if she ends up outside all by herself. This is a girl who has no sense of direction, who has no idea of which way to head to get anywhere, and she’s in the backseat presuming to ask me, “Do you know where you’re going? I think you’re lost.” I said, “Well, um, you can’t spell your name. So, there’s that.” Okay, I didn’t say that either. But this is kind of what happens every time we presume to put God under the microscope of our scrutiny, our logic, or our preconceptions of what he should be like or what he should do.