God, I Have A Question
God, I have a question. Can you imagine sitting down with the God of the universe over coffee picking His brain with some of the issues that have given you great pause? Is it even okay to think of God having coffee with me and being available for topics I fear may seem trivial for the One who created the universe and works daily to keep everything in sync? I am about to begin a new teaching series at the church I pastor (SonRise Baptist Church – Newnan, GA) that will address questions people throughout the community have submitted via our related website – www.godihaveaquestion.com. The website is not only a means by which questions can be submitted, but we also plan to update it with additional answers to questions over the weeks to come so it can be a ministry resource for people seeking truth about God. In this blog, I would like to address a preliminary idea to this whole message series: Is it okay to ask God a question?
When I think about God, sometimes I do feel very small and insignificant. I remember how I felt as a teenager around Lynn (I’ll leave off her last name so as to protect the innocent). I had a crush on her for years, but because she was beautiful, a year older than me, and a cheerleader, I felt like she was off limits – out of my league. Sometimes when we think about God, we feel like He is out of our league – and in this case, He is! However, God is our Father, and He likes to be asked questions. While He is unlike us, He wants to be known. We are told in various places in the Bible by either direct command or by example to ask God questions (see James 1:5-7). God can even handle big questions like “Why…?” I believe it would be wrong to ask a question as if to accuse God, but if we are really asking a question because we want or need an answer, then ask away. We must do so with the right spirit and an attitude of humility remembering He is God and we are not (see Isaiah 45:9-11).
If anyone could ask God “Why?” and be justified, I think it would be Elizabeth Elliot. Her husband, Jim, was murdered by the Auca Indians as he was trying to tell them about Jesus. She addressed this issue on the Back to the Bible website. Here is a portion of her comments:
“Now is it a sin to ask God why? It’s always best to go first for our answers to Jesus Himself. He cried out on the cross, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’ It was a human cry; a cry of desperation springing from His heart’s agony at the prospect of being put into the hands of wicked men and actually becoming sin for you and me. We can never suffer anything like that, yet we do at times feel forsaken, don’t we? It’s quite natural for us to cry, ‘Why, Lord?’ “The psalmist asked why. Job, a blameless man suffering horrible torments on an ash heap, asked why. It doesn’t seem to me to be sinful to ask the question. What is sinful is resentment against God and His dealings with us. When we begin to doubt His love and imagine that He is cheating us of something we have a right to, we are guilty as Adam and Eve were guilty. They took the snake at his word rather than God.
With that stated, God wants to hear from us. It is when we are seeking God that we find Him. He is not playing some cosmic game of hide and seek. He wants to be found! He wants to be known! God, I do have a question. I suppose the real issue is am I capable of understanding Your answer? I will, by faith seek, Your answer, and if I either can’t understand Your answer or if I can’t find it, I will still trust You. Over the next several weeks, I will be writing about each topic I will be addressing. This Sunday’s question is “God, are you really there?” People attending our services will be submitting additional questions or thoughts during the message (via text) that I hope to address at the end of the sermon. For those questions I am unable to get to, I will respond to them on my blog. I hope you will join me. Please feel free to respond with your thoughts.
