At camp last week I had the privilege of some lovely conversations with leaders and campers. One camper in particular had a question to which there seemed no satisfactory answer. Often this can be the case, where we have a desire to know something definite when God in His wisdom has seen fit to conceal it. There are many legitimate questions we can ask without a single answer provided satisfying our curiosity. We want to know how, who, what, when, where, and why, and even if all these were laid out for us it doesn't mean we would agree or be pleased with the answers.
I love how Jesus answered questions people asked Him - or how He didn't answer them. Read through the Gospels and take note of how Jesus dealt with questions. Sometimes He answered them plainly with an explanation. Other times He spoke in parables, even linking different parables which on the surface didn't seem to fit together! Jesus also answered questions with questions. And my favorite is when Jesus disregarded the question altogether and talked about another subject entirely. This shows me I can be asking the wrong questions because I am focused on the wrong thing. If we are satisfied with Christ and trust Him, then we can be pleased when He knowingly changes the subject to reveal important things our curiosity isn't keen enough to consider. Is that possible, that God wants to reveal something far more fulfilling than the answer to my question? Are you fine with that, even when at the time the answer to your question seems so important and critical for your rest?
Job was a man who asked a lot of questions, and rightly so. He was a man who enjoyed fellowship with God through worship and sacrifice. He trusted God even when his life seemed to go to hell after Satan attacked him (with permission under God's watchful eye) and robbed him of his goods, children, and health. Some of Job's friends came to "comfort" him but spent the majority of their time attacking, judging, and suggesting his sin had contributed to his pitiful condition. In his pain Job asked questions of men and God, and there seemed no answers for why such terrors had befallen him. God finally weighed in on the conversation in Job 38:1-3: "Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: 2 "Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? 3 Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me." God did not answer Job's questions, telling him why He had allowed him to be born or see such days. Instead, God launched into a extensive series of questions and Job was unable to answer a single one. God provided Himself as the answer and Job finally understood. In trusting God He would find satisfaction - not in answers to petty or hypothetical questions. Job put his hand on his mouth and was silent before God, repented, obeyed His command, and God restored Job.
God gave us minds to think and question, but there is no question or dilemma man can have which is greater than God. Sometimes there are no answers to our specific question from God, the Bible, or our friends, but we are called to trust the God who has become wisdom for us. He is not just enough but our everything, our life, our all.
I love how Jesus answered questions people asked Him - or how He didn't answer them. Read through the Gospels and take note of how Jesus dealt with questions. Sometimes He answered them plainly with an explanation. Other times He spoke in parables, even linking different parables which on the surface didn't seem to fit together! Jesus also answered questions with questions. And my favorite is when Jesus disregarded the question altogether and talked about another subject entirely. This shows me I can be asking the wrong questions because I am focused on the wrong thing. If we are satisfied with Christ and trust Him, then we can be pleased when He knowingly changes the subject to reveal important things our curiosity isn't keen enough to consider. Is that possible, that God wants to reveal something far more fulfilling than the answer to my question? Are you fine with that, even when at the time the answer to your question seems so important and critical for your rest?
Job was a man who asked a lot of questions, and rightly so. He was a man who enjoyed fellowship with God through worship and sacrifice. He trusted God even when his life seemed to go to hell after Satan attacked him (with permission under God's watchful eye) and robbed him of his goods, children, and health. Some of Job's friends came to "comfort" him but spent the majority of their time attacking, judging, and suggesting his sin had contributed to his pitiful condition. In his pain Job asked questions of men and God, and there seemed no answers for why such terrors had befallen him. God finally weighed in on the conversation in Job 38:1-3: "Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: 2 "Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge? 3 Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me." God did not answer Job's questions, telling him why He had allowed him to be born or see such days. Instead, God launched into a extensive series of questions and Job was unable to answer a single one. God provided Himself as the answer and Job finally understood. In trusting God He would find satisfaction - not in answers to petty or hypothetical questions. Job put his hand on his mouth and was silent before God, repented, obeyed His command, and God restored Job.
God gave us minds to think and question, but there is no question or dilemma man can have which is greater than God. Sometimes there are no answers to our specific question from God, the Bible, or our friends, but we are called to trust the God who has become wisdom for us. He is not just enough but our everything, our life, our all.
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