Proverbs 1:7 (NLT)
Fear of the LORD is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline
We think we have it all figured out… So many of us claim so many truths and make so many arrogant statements. How quickly we forget that only in humbleness can we approach the throne of God. I have been tremendously guilty of this many times.
Asking questions is a very important aspect of our personal walk with Christ. But just like with anything else, asking questions of and about God with misguided motives usually does more harm than good.
In my experience, I have discovered, off the top of my head, three of these misguided motives, which are actually child-like needs, and I’d like to share them with you so maybe you won’t make the same mistakes I have:
The need to be right – I have had in-depth conversations about God that had nothing to do with God. While I seemed, on the surface, to really care deeply about what I was discussing, my main objective was to simply be right. Or at least get the last word in. This is a dangerous place to be because you completely sacrifice the humility and love that deep conversations about God can bring and instead turn it into a competition.
The need to justify your lifestyle – While being a little bit messier, this goes hand-in-hand with the need to be right. The difference is that there’s much more at stake here. Instead of just being right about a theological belief, you have to prove to not only yourself but to everyone else in the conversation that you’re actually right in a behavioral way. You end up with questions like this: “If Jesus was called a drunkard (Luke 7:34), he must have enjoyed a drink every now-and-then. How can drinking be a sin if Jesus did it?” – While this may, on the surface, seem like a good question, I want you to think about the motives behind it. What is really being asked? Like I said, this can be pretty messy. Which leads us to:
The need to make God understandable - This is a big one. God is not something we can grasp. He is much larger and much more complex than we could ever imagine. While we all know this, we aren’t all satisfied with it. So we ask the same questions of God that we might ask of ourselves. Or our pastor. Or our spouse. We put God into a box. We expect him to act and react as we would. The truth is this: If I could understand God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, then they would be on the same level as my dog. He sits when I tell him to sit. He eats when I put his bowl down. He stays when I tell him to stay. He comes when I tell him to come. I have him figured out. God is, however, not this simple and it’s ignorant of us to think we can figure him out in such a way… Questions asked with this motive will never have life-changing answers.
So keep asking questions. Just try to understand your motive in asking them. Throw the bad ones out. Take the good ones to Jesus.
He can handle them.
