2 Samuel 7:1-8:18
John 14:15-31
Psalm 119:33-48
Proverbs 15:33
I studied under the Jesuits for 16 years, and hated the Socratic method they used. You never got an answer to your question - you only got another question. I thought the method counterproductive, and would get frustrated at their inability to give me a straight answer. It was only when I conceded that they might know something I didn't, and when I gave the method a chance, that I started to learn what they had to teach. And yes, a lot of it made sense.
God can be equally frustrating. You ask questions, and the answers sometimes just do not seem to come. Or, when they come, they don't answer the question at all. In today's NT reading we get an example - Judas (not Iscariot) asks why Jesus intends to show himself to them, and not to the world. Jesus's answer does not seem to answer Judas's question at all.
But Jesus's answer in this instance is instructive - "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching." You see, the answers don't have to make sense to us. We can ask for understanding, and God will give it to us - the psalm today says as much. But if we make understanding a prerequisite to obedience, we miss out on all God wants to teach us, all He wants to give us.
Father it is still really tempting to think I know better than You, that what I want for myself is superior to what You want to give me. Teach me the folly of that thinking. Teach me that "wisdom's instruction is to fear the Lord, and humility comes before honor."
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