Asking God the Hard Questions
Questions. Answers only come as a result of asking them.
The problem for many of us is that all too often, we don’t even know what the questions are, or if we do, we’re ashamed or afraid to ask them – at least out loud.
The truth is that God invites us, over and over again throughout the scriptures, to come to Him with our questions, our concerns, our confusion, our distresses, our fears, and to bring before Him our petitions. He places no qualifiers or constraints upon us, and turns no earnest seeker away, no matter what the nature of the inquiry. He understands our need to ask questions. He also understands our hesitancy to ask them.
While most of us understand that there are no easy answers or quick solutions, we still need a safe, loving place to be heard and wrestle through the issues facing us.
For others, there certainly may be a gnawing sense of wanting answers, but the words or ability to define the questions clearly enough to convey them cannot be found. Unless we stop long enough to listen inside – or to one another – so that the questions can be formulated, however, we will be like those setting off on a journey without first knowing the destination. The answers, like the goal, will continue to evade us.
I hope you will join me in seeking: seeking help, seeking support, and seeking healing.
And while it is true that some questions simply do not have an answer – at least not ones we can grasp in the here and now – we can still ask.
Ask even while remembering that our finite nature limits us and limits our understanding because we cannot possibly see the whole picture: we see trees, God sees the whole forest and where it leads. Like Job, we can only see today, and what that feels like in our present condition. Poor Job was sure his life was over at the point in his life that his suffering was most acute. He lamented in chapter 7, “I will never see happiness again!” That was genuinely what he saw and felt at that time and place in his life – and no wonder!
Job’s life, in fact, was far from over, but who could have told him differently? His “friends” had no more ability to explain the reason for his suffering or to predict the future than he did. In fact, they were so far away from understanding the present situation that they certainly did more harm than good.
If you are finding yourself in such a place, filled with questions that are distressing you beyond your limits and no one to share the burden with, my earnest prayer is that you will ask God to lead you to the place you need to be to hear the answers you desperately seek.
Dear reader, please ask! Ask God. The answers may not come right away, or as clearly or as easily as you would like them to, but ask and continue to ask!
We may not find all the answers to our questions now (in fact, that’s pretty much a guarantee), but if we do not allow ourselves to honestly ask God the hard questions, we may not find any answers at all, and that would be a considerable loss. We need to settle the issue that, despite what trauma or abuse taught or spoke into our souls, asking questions is allowed, and right, and acceptable, and good. Best of all, we have an all-wise God Who is willing to be asked and Who is abundantly patient in hearing us, no matter what the issue. He alone can do this in a way that will bring hope and health and a peace that passes understanding.
Because of Him,
Pam