So I have a question.
Is it ok to question God?
Well I think there are a few different answers to that, but I would answer in light of setting up this blog post by saying that it's ok to question the parts of God in our lives that we've made in our own image. We have to.
I think we must return often to our own spirituality and put it up on the block to test it against Scripture. For the sake of our hearts, we have to ask questions.
1 Thessalonians 5:21 - "But examine everything carefully; hold fast to what is good."
In high school I used to think questions were just a sign of not knowing something that someone told me I needed to know in order to succeed in life. I used to think that questions just showed my lack of knowledge of the world and how it worked. Basically, questions were to me a sign of some sort of weakness.
But I've been learning that questions are such a large part of what keep my heart seeking. They keep me moving forward on the path of wholeness. They keep me trusting. Questions keep me from settling in and getting too comfortable. They also keep me humble. They keep me testing what I know against truth. Questions keep me from judging people. They keep me open minded. Questions help me love better.
The questions I have, now that I've realized that greater understanding can come through questioning, show me how good it is that I lack understanding. Questions are what fuel my heart to yearn for that which I don't know. If I run out of questions, then there is something really wrong. And seeing as how the Bible is jam packed with things so many people disagree about, that tells me I need to wrestle with the text myself and not just take someone immediately by their word on an interpretation. Questions are how I wrestle. And friends, we can never stop wrestling...
John 1:1 says "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." The Word, who is Jesus, being God in the flesh, shows that He is not a system but a person. That means the Bible is not static. It's constantly moving. It's why we can read a verse over and over for years and keep seeing and finding new things within it. It's how a verse written thousands of years ago is able to be used today. It's because it's alive.
Without having a lack of something that I truly believe is important to the fulfillment and meaning of this life I wouldn't see the need to chase after it. The questions I have prove that I don't have it all figured out, not even remotely close actually. Questions prove my belief that something beyond myself does have what I'm looking for. And because that something is so vast, so big, and far beyond anything I could ever comprehend, I will forever have questions while on this earth.
So questions require me to move out of independence and self reliance to a humble surrendering to the One who knows all, having created all.
Questions keep me moving. If I stop asking them I face the possibility of apathy in my spiritual growth.
Asking questions is such a large part of letting Jesus Christ continually be the Lord of my life. Without asking questions I could not continue in His likeness.
I say all this to explain why I can tell you that I'm finding recently that I dont want to have definite answers for everything. That the more questions I have the more is required of me, keeping me dependent and giving me the possibility for more and more depth to make stronger the things I believe that make me, me. In this sense, I can't ever stop growing and adding a dimension to my faith that makes me more "alive" than before. This, I think, is part of the power in what makes the Bible living. And this is what I think is such a large part of what the discipleship of Christ looks like. We will always have questions when we come to terms with the fact that we'll never have all of life figured out.
We shouldn't be afraid to ask them either, and we should never stop asking them.
But it's up to us then to trust in the guiding of the Holy Spirit to let these questions deepen the roots of who we are. No question is too big to waver truth, that which is the creator & sustainer God.
So what questions are you asking?
1 Corinthians 3:10-15
(NASB) -
"According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man's work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man's work. If any man's work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man's work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire."
(Message version) -
"Or, to put it another way, you are God's house. Using the gift God gave me as a good architect, I designed blueprints; Apollos is putting up the walls. Let each carpenter who comes on the job take care to build on the foundation! Remember, there is only one foundation, the one already laid: Jesus Christ. Take particular care in picking out your building materials. Eventually there is going to be an inspection. If you use cheap or inferior materials, you'll be found out. The inspection will be thorough and rigorous. You won't get by with a thing. If your work passes inspection, fine; if it doesn't, your part of the building will be torn out and started over. But you won't be torn out; you'll survive—but just barely."
