Besides the answer "because that's how the maths works", there is a conservation of energy argument.
Consider a dipole magnet, which you drop through a metal tube. As it falls, it creates a changing magnetic field, and that induces a current in the tube to oppose the changing magnetic field.
What do you observe? You find that the magnet slows down as it falls through the tube. Its kinetic energy, picked up from falling through the tube, is converted into electrical current.
This is needed for energy to be conserved. If it went in the same direction, then the magnet would instead speed up. If this were the case, you could potentially loop the magnet through the metal tube again and again and create a perpetual motion machine.
So in short: if it went in the same direction, energy would not be conserved. Lenz's law ensures energy is conserved.