Say to the Israelites: ‘Of all the animals that live on land, these are the ones you may eat: - Leviticus 11:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (July 9, 2012): Leviticus 11

There is an age when children begin to assert their own independence – and it happens long before the teenage years. By the time a child has reached the ancient age of two, they are already beginning to see themselves as the lord’s of their own lives. It is then that they first really begin to question whether or not the things that we want them to do are really the best for them. It is a time of testing for the parent.

The search for independence often starts with a single word – why? It is a word that kids learn to use early and often. And frequently the adults in their lives do not possess the answer – at least not in a form that a two year old can understand. The simple two year old question of “why is the sky blue” becomes a bit of a problem. We can tell the child that it is blue because of the process of scattering that happens when the diffuse sky radiation enters our atmosphere and hits the small particles and pollutants in the air – and that depending on which of the rainbow of colors are scattered is the real reason why the sky is blue and also why it sometimes changes color – or we can just tell them that God made it that way (which is a little closer to a two year olds understanding.) But often our answer to the one word question of ‘why’ comes down to another one word response – because.

As unfulfilling as the answer might be for both the parties, ‘because’ might be one of the better answers that we can give.  For one thing, often that is just the way life works. Often we do not have complete understanding of the whys of our own behavior. And yet, whether we understand or not there is the societal expectation that we will obey. Getting ahead in life often seems to come down to being able to live within the boundaries of the society, regardless of whether or not we understand all of the implications of our own whys.

It is a task that God set us up for early in our existence as a race. In the garden was one tree, the fruit of which we were not supposed to eat. The ‘whys’ really did not play a role. It was simply a rule of God – the only appropriate response was ‘because God said so.’ And as we venture into the dietary laws of the nation of Israel we run into the same response. Yes, the dietary laws set the nation apart from other people groups, a difference which would play a very important role in the nation’s developments, and there were some health benefits in finding animals that fit within certain characteristics, but the best answer for the food laws is still ‘because God said so.’

The next time you run into a persistent why, remember that both ‘because’ and the fuller ‘because God said so’ are viable answers. And both answers are a part of the reality of the life and society in which we have learned to function.

  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Leviticus 12