The Wonder of Children

By Larry Ricksen

Matthew 18:1-6 . . . At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”

In December of 2016 my wife and I were babysitting our two granddaughters.  The oldest was almost 5 and the other almost 3.  At bedtime when I put oldest to sleep, I thought it might be meaningful to record this moment in time.  As I laid down next to her, I began to read from the Jesus Storybook Bible the opening paraphrased words from Psalm 19:

The Heavens are singing about how great God is;
and the skies are shouting it out, “See what God has made!”
Day after day…Night after night… They are speaking to us.

At that point she interjected “I have a question” which morphed into several questions:

What is God made out of?  Is he made out of a boy, a girl, or a bird?
What does He look like?  Does He look like Jesus?
Do you know that magic wands are pretend? 

After stumbling and stammering in an attempt to answer her questions, I continued reading:

God wrote, “I love you” – he wrote it in the sky, and on the earth, and under the sea. He wrote his message everywhere!  Because God created everything in his world to reflect him like a mirror – to show us what he is like, to help us know him, to make our hearts sing.  The way a kitten chases her tail.  The way red poppies grow wild.  The way a dolphin swims.  And God put it all into words, too, and wrote it in a book called “the Bible”… The Bible is most of all a Story.  It’s an adventure story about a young Hero who comes from a far country to win back his lost treasure.  It’s a love story about a brave Prince who leaves his palace, his throne – everything – to rescue the one he loves.  It’s like the most wonderful of fairy tales that has come true in real life!

She fired off more questions that continued in response to my answers:

What is the hero’s name?
Does he marry a princess?
Where does he live?
I’ve never seen Jesus come here?  What kind of planet does Jesus live in?
What is heaven?
How does God carry the sun because it is so heavy?
Where does God’s power come from?  Does it come from his hands?  Does it come from his head?

Humbled by my feeble attempts to address her questions, I have learned like Job that “I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.” Paul echoed Job’s words “for now we see in a mirror dimly but then face to face”.  And I believe this is a very good thing.  God has chosen to reveal all that is necessary for us to know in this life – that we can recognize God’s majesty, power, and glory in His creation and in His written revelation we are able to learn we are loved, forgiven, and reconciled to Him through trusting in the finished work of His Son, Jesus.  But, there are many, many things too wonderful for us to know in this life and for every one of our unanswered questions God simply says “trust me”. 

What is something you have learned from a chiild?