Christian Living
Questions
I was thinking the other day about the questions we use as a pattern when writing an article; a format that we are familiar with and see each and every time we read a newspaper—who? what?, when?, where?, why?, and how? . These words provide us with valuable information about the story being discussed, leads the reader through the important points discussed and the outcome at the present time of the writing of the article.
Asking questions can be profitable when they help us to avoid the pitfalls that can easily lead us astray into making wrong decisions in business and life in general. God must applaud us when we use the sense he gave us and stay out of trouble. Not asking important questions can also get us into trouble by making decisions that are not easily, if at all, remedied. More importantly, God deeply desires that we come and seek His face on everything in life and to be obedient when he speaks. Common sense will only take us so far; we need God’s guidance in everything pertaining to our spiritual life and sanctification. Even though God knows what choice or path we will take, it must grieve His heart to see us make these important decisions without seeking Him first or considering the long-term consequences of our actions.
My thoughts started to be drawn into these questions as to how they would relate to our relationship and communication with our Heavenly Father. The very first thing that occurred to me was what a lack of trust this would reveal in us. It shows a sense of entitlement or that God is somehow accountable to us, His creation, for what God deems good and needful for our life and well-being. Isaiah 45:9-10 says:
Woe to the one who quarrels with his Maker—
An earthenware vessel among the vessels of the earth! Will the clay say to the potter, ‘What are you doing?’ Or the thing you are making say, ‘He has no hands?’
Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?
Or to a woman, ‘To what are you giving birth?’
In saying who? to God, we are saying , “Who are You to deny me what I want and what I need?” At times we have all felt these words on our lips and have felt embarrassed in our lack of trust in God who has prepared only His best for us as His precious children. Sometimes His best feels like a punishment with no apparent cause or misstep on our part. This is when we feel that God is being unfair in His judgment toward us. The above verse from Isaiah 45 cautions us about asking what God is doing and why; questioning whether or not God is really doing the right thing on our behalf. In saying this I am reminded of the serpent’s conversation with Eve in the Garden of Eden, in Genesis 3:1-5
which says:
‘And he (the serpent) said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, “You shall not eat from any tree of the garden?’”
And the woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat, but from the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, lest you die.’”
And the serpent said to the woman, “You shall surely not die! For God knows that the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”’
Through the serpents cunning, Adam and Eve were tricked whereby they sinned and spiritually died--all for the fleeting pleasure of a piece of fruit. God had the very best of life for Adam and Eve, and yet they sacrificed God’s perfect will for their lives for a very different way of life.
I dare say that we have all questioned God’s wisdom in giving us health problems or physical attributes that we are not especially fond of; why we are being denied something that we want that we believe will make our life better or truly happy? God is very aware of our wants and our true needs and has the wisdom to know the difference. Not everything we want is truly needful or in our best interest.
There are times that God says ‘Yes, but now is not the right time.’ We think that we are waiting with all patience while under our breath we are saying, “When?” Trusting God and allowing Him to work out the details is a real trial for humankind to undertake. We love to take control and in the process we make a real mess of things. We can truly miss God’s best and the full measure of His blessing which comes from waiting on God’s perfect timing When we trust God to set the circumstances in motion, the timing is perfect and never late.
Ecclesiastes 3:1 states:
There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven.
In times of testing we frequently say to God, “Where are You, God? I’m suffering and I hurt, don’t You care?” We feel alone and are not sure what is happening. This is when God sees what we will do; will we seek Him for the next move, or in rebellion or frustration will we go ahead and independently make that move. We always want to be the one in the driver’s seat and when we’re not in control we want to know where we’re going.
As little children we would go for rides in the car with our parents and for the whole trip we would drive our parents crazy saying, “How long till we get there?” or “How much longer?” All these many years later we haven’t changed all that much with regard to our Heavenly Father—we still have questions about every little thing on the way to where God is leading us, sometimes digging in our heels all the way along.
The remedy isn’t the easiest thing to employ as a lifestyle change. It is a choice that will be hard to swallow every day of our lives and that is to relinquish the control of our lives over to God and trust Him to make decisions on our behalf, even when we don’t understand what He is doing. Faith in the One who breathed into Adam’s nostrils the breath of life and made him a living being, should be enough, but sadly, the curse of sin is at work in this world keeps us questioning, just as the first of man and woman did in the Garden. Our response must be one of complete trust that is renewed on a daily basis and trust in His faithfulness to guide us each and every day.
The prophet, Jeremiah in Lamentations 3:20-23 said:
Surely my soul remembers
And is bowed down within me.
This I recall to mind,
Therefore I have hope.
The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed
never cease.
His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning:
Great is thy faithfulness.
All scripture from New American Standard Version
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