Query

Prov.8:⁹ “My words are plain to anyone with understanding, clear to those with knowledge”

I can be very curious; so I love asking questions and I like people who ask questions. I am not talking about foolish questions, or arrogant questions, or questions posed just to show off what the person thinks he or she knows. Jesus had a number of such people showing up at His gatherings. One asked: if seven brothers had married the same woman at different seasons and they had died and gone to heaven, whose wife will the woman be in heaven? Jesus told him that his question reveals his foolishness because there is neither gender nor marriage in heaven. But asking a question with a sincere heart is so powerful.

Naguib Mahfouz, a Nobel Peace prize winner says, “You can tell whether a man is clever by his answers. You can tell whether a man is wise by his questions” [Paraphrased from Matthew 22:23-33]. Over the next few days we will examine five questions we need to wrestle with in order to move forward. The word wrestle there suggests that you have to spend time turning these questions over and over. The problem is that we do not spend enough time on questions and that is why we do not get answers. We need to take these questions before God and wrestle with then and God will give us answers.

God also asks and answers questions. But when God asks a question, He is not seeking to gain information. God asks questions to show the answer. For instance when God asked, “Adam where are you?”, God was not asking because He did not know where they were. But God actually wanted to show Adam he was naked. When God asked Jacob, “what is your name”, God was not in doubt about his name. Before Jacob was formed in his mother’s womb, God knew him and God numbered his days. God was asking in order to show Jacob who he was, a supplanter. When God asks me, what day is it? I am both scared and alert because I do not know what He is up to. God asks questions to reveal our hearts, our desires, His plans and so much more.

Assignment: Search for questions God asked in the Bible and what He revealed.

Prayer: Lord, Your Words are plain with understanding and clear with knowledge. Father make me quick to understand and give me knowledge, in Jesus Name. Amen!