At five years old, my daughter asked me a question about a topic that I didn’t feel comfortable explaining to her yet. After I told her that I would discuss it with her when she was a little bit older, she responded with “don’t you trust me, Mommy?” She was incredibly confident in her ability to receive the information she was seeking, so the more I said “not yet,” the more exasperated she became. But no matter how much her frustrated tears broke my heart, I stood my ground because I knew, way better than she did in that moment, that she was not ready for the answer. Her developing brain and mental capacity could not yet handle the complexity of my answer. In fact, if given the information too soon, I feared her immaturity would cause her to mishandle it and potentially cause problems that were otherwise preventable. 

I know my disappointing response to her well-intentioned question temporarily bruised her little heart; however, after she realized I was not going to budge, I watched as she relented, curled up in my lap and sighed, “okay, Mommy. I trust you.” I witnessed her frustration dissolve as she melted into the arms of the one she trusted to care for her…even when she didn’t fully understand why she couldn’t receive what she was “rightfully” asking for. 

Just as she eventually made the choice to put her feelings aside and find refuge in a truth she knew she could rely on, we can all strive to make the same decision and rest in the One we trust to care for and protect us – even when we can’t totally see or understand the ways in which we know He is working. 

Jesus longs for us to sit at His feet when we are searching for understanding. His deepest desire is to walk through those seasons with us, hand in hand. 

But we have to trust our Father’s timing.

Sometimes we receive an instant answer. Other times, it feels as if He has gone silent, not indulging our requests to perceive what is going on “behind the scenes.” And then there are seasons when it feels He is only delivering pieces of the giant puzzle we’re attempting to solve – one tiny, measly piece at a time. 

But no matter what mode of “delivery” He chooses, we can trust that He knows it’s best because of the divine vantage point He has compared to our very limited human one. We can rest in the fact that if we don’t have an answer to the question that is plaguing us yet, it is for our own good. And from that place, we can “be still and wait patiently on the Lord” (Psalm 37:7), trusting that when the time is right, He will lovingly provide the clarity we’re asking Him for.