Children are not afraid to ask questions. Their favorite question is “Why?”
Adults often give automatic answers. They don’t even think very deeply about the question.
But children are persistent. If the answer does not make sense to them or leads to another question, they continue with “whys.”
Eventually adults get tired of the questions and retort, “Because that’s just the way it is.” Or they play their parental authority card and say, “Because I said so.”
Children will continue to search for answers. If they do not find answers with those they trust, they will end up listening to those they should not trust.
I was blessed to have two wonderful parents who did not mind answering my questions. In fact, they encouraged me to keep asking.
They answered all they knew. They pointed me to other trusted places to seek answers. But the greatest thing they did was acknowledge there were some things they did not know.
I remember my mother saying, “I don’t know. Let’s ask God that one.” And she and my father would pray with me.
My father said, “Don’t make up your mind before you pray. Always be completely open to what God will say.”
And he added, “Sometimes He will not answer you immediately. He wants you to think about what you’re asking. Sometimes you already know the answer. It just takes time being with Him for the answer to come to the front of your mind.”
And he said again, “Don’t make up your mind and go to Him with your question to try to convince Him to give you an answer that lines up with what you want. You’re not there to get Him to agree with you. You’re there to hear Him and then you agree with Him.”
That was the best advice ever. However, as I went into the world, I discovered many good Christian people thought it was a sin to question God.
Many people did ask “why” when their world caved in, but most never expected God to answer.
Most never waited for His Answer.
Most never considered they already might know the answer.
Most begrudgingly believed God had said, “That’s just the way it is” or “because I said so.”
But what I found even more concerning was that many good Christians believed they did not need to question God, because they already knew how He worked.
Their theology was locked up tight and they wanted no one to question what they were sure was the only Word from God.
So is it ok to question God? Would He really answer? Let’s hear what He says.
“Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”
Jeremiah 33:3
“You will hear a voice behind you saying, ‘This is the way. Follow it, whether it turns to the right or to the left.’”
Isaiah 30:21””
“My Thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My Ways,”
declares The Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My Ways higher than your ways and My Thoughts than your thoughts.”
Isaiah 55:8-9
“Let us review the situation together, and you can present your case.”
Isaiah 43:26
James tells us,
“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, Who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”
James 1:5
So the next time you wonder about the world and your place in it, ask God to explain it to you.
And then be still and confidently wait for His Answer. Don’t be surprised how and when He answers you. He speaks a lot of different languages and He sometimes looks a lot different than you thought He looked.
