Monday September 10th Job 8-10 asking questions

Questions!  Questions help us to grow and understand.  Honest questions that reveal our limited understand help us to understand what we once could not.  In Job, Chapter 10, he asks lots of questions.  He is in a place that he does not understand and wants some answers.

 In high school I read a sign on a teachers door that has always stuck with me:

"The only stupid question is the one not asked."

Why don't we ask questions?  Sometimes we don't want to show our weakness, our limited understanding.  We are afraid of what others may think of us.  We are embarrassed and feel as if we should already know they answers.

Why don't Christians ask questions, especially of God in times of struggle?

My son Talon asked me this question last week:

"Mom is it a sin to question God? Is it a sin to tell him that you are angry or don't like something that happened?"  

As Christians I think we sometimes fool ourselves.  We believe that if we have rock solid faith, if we are firmly rooted in the Lord, if we have a firm relationship with our God and creator then we should not question.  I think that sometimes we can look at questioning God as sinful.  But I think that God welcomes questions.  I think he longs for us to ask them.  Why?  Because it is when we are most honest with God, when we pour out our hearts, the hurts and struggles as well as the joys and laughter that our hearts are ready to receive what God knows we need to hear.

In church yesterday Pastor Taylor used an analogy.  He had a pitcher filled with water.  He said that when we go through difficulties we need to pour out to God that which is in our hearts.  Our questions, our pain, our lack of understanding, our burdens and struggles.  He poured the water out into a bowl representing us pouring our hearts out to God.  I would like to take the analogy one step further.  What I noticed is that what was left was an empty picture, an empty vessel.  When we pour out the hurts, pains, misunderstandings, the questions we leave ourselves open to be filled with what God knows we need.  It may be answers to those questions and sometimes, like in Job's case it may be reminders of who God is and how much he loves you.  When we ask God questions, when we pour out our hearts to him and empty ourselves what he then does is he fills us, our hearts and minds, with what we need.  We are not left to be empty vessels but rather to be filled with the blessings of the Lord.  This is how we build a strong faith, a solid trust and an unwavering hope in the one who says,

Jeremiah 21:11
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Asking questions is what leads us to understanding who God is and that his plans are good and they offer us hope and a future.  It may not feel like it at the time but this is a promise that we can be sure of and if we pour out our hearts and ask questions like Job did, honest questions, he will answer by reminding us of who he is and what he has planned – a hope and a future.

We just need to remember that God will answer according to our needs not according to our wants.  So we should only ask questions when we are truly ready to get whatever response God thinks we need.  Like with Job, God doesn't always give us the reason why.  I think we worry too much about the why and we forget to focus on the who.  Who God is.  It isn't until we empty our hearts of the why questions that we can be filled with the Who of God's character and be in a better place to weather the storms of life.

If you are a vessel that is hurting or struggling today pour out your sincere and honest questions and feelings to the Lord and let him fill you with what you NEED to move forward toward the hope and future he has planned for you.