Although I am by no means an intellectual, I do question everything and think deeply about my beliefs. By temperament, I am skeptical, which is both a blessing and a curse. But in my relationship with God, I have found my willingness to ask honest questions a real help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We often make the mistake of not taking their biggest and most troubling questions directly to God.<\/strong> In counseling folks, I have often listened to people recite all their doubts and questions about a tragedy. I then ask them, \u201cHave you asked God these questions and then waited for an answer?\u201d The answer is usually \u201cNo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n When faced with an unexpected tragedy, incurable disease, or crushing disappointment, our broken hearts cry out, \u201cWhy God?\u201d<\/strong> But this cry, especially at first, is often more a complaint, or even an accusation, than a question we expect God to answer. When our complaint is based on the promises of God, God hears us. It is, however, important to move beyond complaint to asking God our thorniest questions directly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The reasons we avoid asking the big questions vary.<\/strong> First, we may live in, or have grown up in, a religious culture that regards unquestioning obedience as the highest value. Asking God questions are tantamount to challenging God\u2014or talking back. However, reading Job and many of the Psalms shows us God is not offended by our questions and can handle our doubts. We can ask, \u201cWhy?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Perhaps an even more common reason is that we don\u2019t think God will answer.<\/strong> Even those of us who regularly talk to God, often don\u2019t expect God to talk to us. We have low expectations for two-way communication. And we evangelicals often don\u2019t expect to talk to an actual person on the heaven\u2019s helpline and instead look in the Bible for the for the FAQs that address the cry of our heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A perhaps odd reason for not asking God is the sense that there is nothing new about our questions.<\/strong> People ask why about every tragedy, terrible scandal, or crushing disappointment and few people every come back and share an answer. It is not as though after thousands of years of asking why, God is going spill the beans to me! Nonetheless, it is important, I believe, to ask God our biggest questions\u2014the especially the ones that threaten to derail us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, much of my life has been shaped by the quest to see God moving in His people in power and holiness. <\/strong>Since I was sixteen and got baptized in the Holy Spirit, I have sought to see the church proclaim the message of the kingdom and do the works of the kingdom. Fifty years later many churches are drifting into secular humanism\u2014embracing \u201ca form of godliness but denying it power\u201d (II Timothy3:15). On the other hand, charismatic churches have been deluged with scandals that cause many to question both the fruit and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Sometimes it seems like God\u2019s kingdom is going instead of coming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, I have asked God, why<\/strong>? The response I got was my mind being flooded with a list of variables: God\u2019s timing, people\u2019s responses, preparation for revival, need for unity. We also need humble leaders who can steward the power and presence of God\u2019s kingdom. People need the vision and the courage to defy a culture of unbelief and rationalism. This was not merely a list of ingredients in a recipe; it is holy chemistry because all these ingredients interact with one another. Oh, we need new wineskins too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In my prayer time, I had no sense that God was annoyed by my why questions.<\/strong> What God could explain, He did. Where the answer depended on myriad variables, God simply said, \u201cThis is beyond your understanding.\u201d<\/em> I felt God saying, \u201cMark, even if I wanted to explain the complexity of all these things, there is no way you could understand how all these variables work together. Can you leave the why and when to me? Ask me, \u2018What now?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n The key to getting unstuck spiritually has been for me to ask, \u201cWhat now?\u201d<\/strong> God seems quick to answer this question. I don\u2019t know why so few people are healed, but I know I ought to keep praying for the sick. I don\u2019t know why there is so little prophecy that builds up the church and draws people closer to God, but I will keep listening for God\u2019s voice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I still do not know all the reasons my son Peter tumbled into sin and addiction.<\/strong> What should we have done differently? So many variables: genetics, environment, decisions, friends, identity crisis, parenting, spiritual inheritances, and more. Why were all the promises about Peter turning to ashes? All God would tell us was, \u201cLove, him<\/em>.\u201d So, we did, to the very end. When hammering heaven with questions after Peter died, I cried out, \u201cBut God, I loved Peter.\u201d God\u2019s reply to me was a gentle as a dove, \u201cI loved him first.\u201d This answer did not address all my questions about causes and effects, but it answered the question I needed answered. God had been, and still is, with me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have asked God why He has not answered my prayer and Teckla\u2019s prayer, that she would not have dementia.<\/strong> Because I have always felt keenly how much God loves Teckla, I had assured her that God would not allow her to suffer with dementia. I have no answer to why God has allowed this. I asked God, \u201cShould I stop praying for her healing?\u201d I felt strongly that I needed to keep praying for her healing even though I had no promise healing would come. I have surrendered my why for a what.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If we live in a bramble patch of \u201cwhys\u201d, we stay stuck\u2014unable to move forward with God<\/strong>. Every pastor has encountered traumatized people who have been stuck for years after a tragedy or terrible disappointment. They may have grown bitter, they may have grown timid, or they become paralyzed by fear of the future. If we simply ask, \u201cWhat now?\u201d we find God is specific enough to keep us moving, loving, and growing. However, I don\u2019t think we can skip the \u201cWhy?\u201d but rather should move through<\/em> our why questions into \u201cWhat now?\u201d If we try to shoulder aside all the why questions, they often crouch like gargoyles in the corners of hearts stealing our joy and purpose.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Living with the \u201cWhat now?\u201d foremost in our heart frees us from fear<\/strong>. Past trauma can easily make us cringe and hunker down in fear of the future. Too much concern for the past or the future can blind us to the present\u2014and the present is only gift we can really give to God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Everyone moves from why to what at different speeds. <\/strong>For some it may take weeks, for others years. And we may often find that answers to our deepest questions come in installments and are answered by life itself rather than special revelation. What is important is that we are moving and Jesus walks beside us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Although I am by no means an intellectual, I do question everything and think deeply about my beliefs. By temperament, I am skeptical, which is both a blessing and a curse. But in my relationship with God, I have found … Continue reading