Living in the Questions?

Questions are a part of my life. Since I was a little boy I wanted to know how things worked. My curiosity caused me to destroy many toys that I took apart! I want to know what works in life, why things happen. Most of us want those answers, don’t we?

• A man at church told me how his Dad searched to find an explanation for his health issue which even the doctors could not explain.
• Two families in our congregation are facing economic stress, one facing the bankruptcy court this week; the other the immanent loss of their home this month. When they told me, my head wanted to try to understand ‘why.’ I wrestled to trust the Lord for them and with them much of last night!
• Reading in the book of Numbers this morning, I came to the fifth chapter which is one of those, “What did he say?” kind of passages. I’m still pondering that one!

It is important for me to balance the questions with the answers I have found! I cannot live in the questions all the time without becoming fearful or doubting. It may strike you as a simplistic, but I frequently hum the child’s chorus, “Jesus loves me, this I know!” That is a certainty I cannot live without. The love of God, shown to us in Christ Jesus, changes everything! Then, too, I remind myself that the Lord knows my yesterdays, my today, and my tomorrows. "All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." (Psalm 139:16, NIV) And, I stand on the declaration that Christ Jesus has reconciled me to my Creator and prepared an eternal home for me, that because He lives, I will live also. "This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." (Romans 3:22-24, NIV) "What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us?" (Romans 8:31, NIV) Answer? No one and nothing!

Disciple, don’t just live in the questions. Yes, go ahead, ask them! Ponder the mysteries of life. Seek to understand. Learn about your world, yourself, and our God. A person who will not acknowledge the questions, who attempts to make life a simple set of ‘if, then’ propositions, misses out on finding a deeper faith! Asking the questions and choosing to trust Him while seeing the world as it really is allows for us to come to know God in a richer, fuller way. But, remember the answers, too. Let a solid foundation of God’s faithfulness and His promises in the Word be the bedrock on which you build the rest of your life.

Here’s an affirmation from the Word that I encourage you to take with you today. When the questions come, find refuge in this.

"I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day." (2 Timothy 1:12, NKJV)
"That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us." (2 Timothy 1:14, NKJV)

___________________
Sweet Jesus Christ, my sanity.
Sweet Jesus Christ, my clarity.
Bread of heaven, broken for me.
Cup of salvation, held out to drink.
Jesus, mystery!

Christ has died, and
Christ is risen,
Christ will come again!
Christ has died, and
Christ is risen,
Christ will come again!

Celebrate His death and rising!
Lift your eyes, proclaim His coming!
Celebrate His death and rising!
Lift your eyes, lift your eyes!

Sweet Jesus Christ, my sanity.

Mystery
Charlie Hall
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