One of the areas I wrestled with most over my years in Reformed theology was its insistence on not only asking but attempting to answer some very 'hard questions' about God, his will, and his ways.  As much as the hidden will of God was discussed, there was always lots and lots of speculation about the hidden things of God, especially among contemporary Reformed types.  For example, these often unanswerable questions are invariably raised in discussions about the Fall (Gen 3).  As usual, Luther brings his wise counsel to the table:

This passage (Gen 3) raises a lot of questions.  Some people become curious and ask, "Well, why did God permit Satan to lute Eve into sin?  Why did Satan appear to Eve in the form of a serpent instead of some other animal?"

No one can explain why God permits things to happen.  No one understands what he does or why he does it.  So we should remember the lesson that Job learned: no one can summon God into court to account for what he does or allows to happen.  We might as well argue with him about why the grass and trees aren't green all year long.  It's enough for us to know that all these things are under God's power.  He can do as he pleases.  Idle curiosity causes guessing and questioning...

As much as there is still a part of me that wants to answer these sorts of difficult "Why?" questions to vainly prove my mastery of theology and philosophy (read with a great dose of sarcasm), I'm reminded by my son that "Why?" is often an immature response to situations we dislike.  Very rarely, even (or perhaps especially) in the area of theology, do we attempt to ask and answer "Why?" questions out of a spirit of humility and childlike wonder.  Instead, we concoct great speculations which often serve only to puff up.

Added to this, in times of great personal tragedy, there really is no good pastoral answer to the question of "Why?"  Then is not the time to speculate on the mysteries of Providence.  Instead, it is the time to grieve and pray with our hurting brothers and sisters in Christ.  "No one can explain why God permits things to happen," Luther writes.  We can, however, surely know how God feels about us, his children--one glance at the cross yields the unmistakable answer!  Amen.

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