Raise your hand if you have ever said to your child ‘because I said so!” Even though we strive to keep that phrase out of our parenting arsenal, we default to it all the time or at least more than we want to admit. Why? Probably because we have no brain power to come up with anything else.
Actually sometimes it is the best thing we can say to our child - because at the heart of the issue we really have their best in mind and they should do what we say simply because we said so.
In Luke 5:1-11, Jesus begins calling His apostles. He was pressed in by the crowd so much so He was backed up to the edge of the water. He saw two empty boats there because the fisherman were off on the shore cleaning their nets. He got into one of the boats (happened to be Peter’s-still called Simon at this time) and Jesus asked him (Peter) to go out into the lake a ways so He could teach the crowds from his boat. Peter did as requested.
After He had finished speaking, Jesus told Peter to go out a little farther into deep water and let down the nets for a catch. Now Peter and James and John (v.10) had been fishing all night. They were cleaning their nets. They were finished. It had been a complete bust of a fishing expedition—they had caught nothing all night. Yet Peter here says, “But if You say so…I’ll let down the nets.”
This phrase caught my attention—just because You say so. How many times has God said something and like a questioning child we keep saying ‘why?’
- Do not be anxious about anything but in every situation by prayer and petition with thanksgiving present your requests to God; and the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7
- Trust in the LORD with all thine heart and lean not unto your own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct your paths. Prov. 3:5-6
- God is not a man that He might lie or a son of man that He might change His mind. Does He speak and not act, or promise and not fulfill? Numbers 23:19
These are just a few examples of God’s Word and why we can trust Him. He has our best in mind. We either don’t need to know the reason why or possibly we are not at a point where we could handle the reason. When we answer our children ‘because I said so’ remember as a child of God, we should do the same.
By the way, after the men let down their nets, they caught so many fish their nets were breaking. They were able to fill both boats so full they began to sink. Who knows what might happen just because He said so!
