We were living in Flagstaff, Arizona. On this particularly clear night, as the moon hung full and bright in the star-filled sky, I was driving my son home from the church building. This was a time in his early development when I would’ve been answering lots of “why” questions. I wasn’t expecting this.

“Daddy, why is the moon so far away?”“I don’t know. Maybe someday you’ll be able to answer that question for me.”(Quietly staring out the window before reaching out his hand) “I just want to touch it.”

As we continued to drive home, I asked God to give me that same curious and courageous spirit - to not only ask questions, but to reach out and grab hold of God. “Why are you so far away, God?” “I just want to touch you.” I wonder how God responded to my question that night. Did God delight in my curious and courageous spirit?

Likewise, I wonder how God responded when the psalmist asked, “Why do the nations conspire, and the peoples plot in vain?” (Psalm 2:1)

It was a great question.

Psalm 2 would’ve served as a royal song highlighting the reign of King David and his heirs. The worshippers would regularly remind themselves that their God, YHWH, was in heaven laughing at such folly. Who in their right mind would think that they could “out-God” God? Their King, after all, was the one of whom the LORD declared, “You are my son; today I have begotten you.” (v.7) What a pointless endeavor to walk, stand, and sit in the seat of scoffers (Psalm 1), or to heed the counsel of fools!

As great questions usually do, this one kept the conversation going far into the future. The early church, in the midst of persecution, appropriated this same Psalm as a testimony to the sonship of Jesus, the Messiah.