Earlier today I asked the question “When you die, what is the first thing you are going to ask God?” Many people came up with good answers; some were passive aggressive and posted on their own walls that God isn’t to be questioned and some were just up front about being to busy in worship to worry about asking God questions. However, I need to ask one more question, “Why shouldn’t we question God?”
If one opens their Bibles they will see the story of Abraham, did he not question God? Bargain with Him to spare the people of Sodom and Gomorrah if one righteous could be found? Another shining example of someone questioning God is the story of Jacob wrestling with God. I have no doubt in my mind that while Jacob was wrestling with God that he was also asking God some tough questions. From Jacob we see that Job questioned God on a regular basis when he was going through painful experiences. David, a man called the apple of God’s eye questioned God. What about Hannah? Did she not sit on the temple steps, crying and weeping over a much longed for child; I bet she asked some questions of God.
Questioning God isn’t bad; I am pretty sure He expects us to ask questions. Do you remember asking your parents a question when you were younger and they answered you? I remember as a child, telling my parents, I was going to ride my bicycle in the road; my mother told me “no!” I questioned my mother; only to find out that it was because I could get hit if I played in the road. Even after I was old enough to play in the road, I can say it probably wasn’t such a great idea. I was out riding my bicycle (yes, in the road); I pulled over on the side because some older kids were driving their car up the road. I don’t remember much, but I do remember being clipped by a car mirror and crawling up my parent’s driveway, leaving my bike in the road.
One of my favorite stories in the Bible is that of Habakkuk. Habakkuk questioned God. He (paraphrased) asked God “Why do the righteous suffer, and why do you remain silent?” He found his answers in an unexpected fashion: He found he “must alter his perspective on the ways of God with mankind.” The ultimate answer to such difficult questions always takes the questioner back to God himself. Habakkuk questioned God, but ultimately the prophet came back to the profound answer for all the questions of life—he returned to the theme of the greatness and the majesty of God.
You see God is the friend of the honest doubter who dares to talk to God rather than about him. Prayer that includes an element of questioning God may be a means of increasing one’s faith. Expressing doubts and crying out about unfair situations in the universe show one’s trust in God and one’s confidence that God should and does have an answer to humanity’s insoluble problems. Such an experience of doubting is not, however, “to be normative. Habakkuk’s willingness to question and therefore to know the God of the universe rather than settle for knowing the god of popular theology allowed him to see the reality of the world situation.
Questioning God doesn’t make us automatically bad, or unfaithful; rather it builds our faith. So my question again is, “if you were to die right now, and you could ask God any question in the world, what would it be?” You don’t have to answer here, but I do encourage you to be open, be honest, God already knows exactly what you are going to ask, so don’t hide it...ask!
