Questions for God
The Death of Jesus
And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Mark 15:33-34
Why?
There will be many points in our lives when we will go through times, even seasons that we do not fully understand. There will be times when we will have questions but we cannot find answers to. No one else seems to know either. And some of us might even question God.
Spiritual and religious people have frowned upon this -- man questioning their Maker.
In the Old Testament, God responded to Job with “where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?"
The Apostle Paul in his letter to the early believers in Rome wrote:
"But, my friend, I ask, “Who do you think you are to question God? Does the clay have the right to ask the potter why he shaped it the way he did?" (Romans 9:20)
Who Are We?
And yes, he is right. Who do we think we are? We are but a speck of dust, or dew or mist or vapor, here today, gone tomorrow.
We should look down on ourselves, and for good reason, for in and of ourselves there is nothing good. Nada.
But except, in God's eyes, we are wonderfully and fearfully made.
We are created in His image and likeness
When we have been redeemed, we are God's worksmanship, created to do good works.
We are God's children, the apple of His eyes.
Good Company
But do we really believe that?
Scriptures show us that most if not all of those whose faith in God has been commended, has on occasion questioned God.
David questioned God (a lot). Moses did too. Sarah and Abraham, Solomon, Job, Gideon, Jonah, Elijah, Jeremiah, Habakuk, John the Baptist, Mary and Martha, Thomas and the other apostles, Peter, James and John, Mary and James, and Paul among a long list of others of great faith have all questioned God.
But inspite all these, many who teach the bible would still tell us that we should blindly follow God. They will tell us that it is not right to question God.
Jesus Christ
Jesus deeply grieved and distressed, prayed fervently to Our Father, that if it is possible, to let this cup (of anguish) pass from Him. But maintained, not my will but Yours.
Later on, as we have read at the passage above, at the peak of His agony and at the moment before His death, He asked Our Father in heaven, "My God, why have You forsaken me?"
He asked.
Wisdom
The Apostle James wrote to the early church: "if any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you." (James 1:5)
Yes and we should as we all lack wisdom and understanding. To say otherwise is folly. But to say that we just cannot ask God 'why' is not biblical or even logical at all.
Be Real
All the great people in the bible did. As we read, Jesus Himself (as fully human) did. He showed us what was in His heart. He did this to show us, that He could relate to the things we are going through.
We are not robots. We hurt in the inside. And when we are at our breaking point, who more to understand us, than Our Heavenly Father, Our Creator, Our God.
Yes, in our times of great difficulty, anguish, pain and sorrow, let us like Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, spend time alone with Our LORD and pour our heart out to Him. 'Let this cup pass, but thy will be done.'
But at the height of our pain, our agony, let us be real.
God already knows what we are going through. Nothing is hidden from Him. In the contrary, it is us, that has been hiding from Him, like Adam and Eve did.
Open Up
We have deep hurts. We stumble. Life isn't easy. And so let us come to the LORD with sincerely of heart and pure intentions... with boldness, but also with respect and reverent fear of who we are and who we are speaking with. In truth, lay it all down. Ask..., seek, knock.
Our Father in heaven has been waiting all this time. Come to Him -- Our Maker, like how He instructed us to worship Him -- in spirit and in truth.
#WhenIDontUnderstand
[Hebrews 4:15 MSG
The High Priest Who Cried Out in Pain -- We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all -- He is Jesus.]
And when the sixth hour had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Mark 15:33-34
Why?
There will be many points in our lives when we will go through times, even seasons that we do not fully understand. There will be times when we will have questions but we cannot find answers to. No one else seems to know either. And some of us might even question God.
Spiritual and religious people have frowned upon this -- man questioning their Maker.
In the Old Testament, God responded to Job with “where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?"
The Apostle Paul in his letter to the early believers in Rome wrote:
"But, my friend, I ask, “Who do you think you are to question God? Does the clay have the right to ask the potter why he shaped it the way he did?" (Romans 9:20)
Who Are We?
And yes, he is right. Who do we think we are? We are but a speck of dust, or dew or mist or vapor, here today, gone tomorrow.
We should look down on ourselves, and for good reason, for in and of ourselves there is nothing good. Nada.
But except, in God's eyes, we are wonderfully and fearfully made.
We are created in His image and likeness
When we have been redeemed, we are God's worksmanship, created to do good works.
We are God's children, the apple of His eyes.
Good Company
But do we really believe that?
Scriptures show us that most if not all of those whose faith in God has been commended, has on occasion questioned God.
David questioned God (a lot). Moses did too. Sarah and Abraham, Solomon, Job, Gideon, Jonah, Elijah, Jeremiah, Habakuk, John the Baptist, Mary and Martha, Thomas and the other apostles, Peter, James and John, Mary and James, and Paul among a long list of others of great faith have all questioned God.
But inspite all these, many who teach the bible would still tell us that we should blindly follow God. They will tell us that it is not right to question God.
Jesus Christ
Jesus deeply grieved and distressed, prayed fervently to Our Father, that if it is possible, to let this cup (of anguish) pass from Him. But maintained, not my will but Yours.
Later on, as we have read at the passage above, at the peak of His agony and at the moment before His death, He asked Our Father in heaven, "My God, why have You forsaken me?"
He asked.
Wisdom
The Apostle James wrote to the early church: "if any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you." (James 1:5)
Yes and we should as we all lack wisdom and understanding. To say otherwise is folly. But to say that we just cannot ask God 'why' is not biblical or even logical at all.
Be Real
All the great people in the bible did. As we read, Jesus Himself (as fully human) did. He showed us what was in His heart. He did this to show us, that He could relate to the things we are going through.
We are not robots. We hurt in the inside. And when we are at our breaking point, who more to understand us, than Our Heavenly Father, Our Creator, Our God.
Yes, in our times of great difficulty, anguish, pain and sorrow, let us like Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, spend time alone with Our LORD and pour our heart out to Him. 'Let this cup pass, but thy will be done.'
But at the height of our pain, our agony, let us be real.
God already knows what we are going through. Nothing is hidden from Him. In the contrary, it is us, that has been hiding from Him, like Adam and Eve did.
Open Up
We have deep hurts. We stumble. Life isn't easy. And so let us come to the LORD with sincerely of heart and pure intentions... with boldness, but also with respect and reverent fear of who we are and who we are speaking with. In truth, lay it all down. Ask..., seek, knock.
Our Father in heaven has been waiting all this time. Come to Him -- Our Maker, like how He instructed us to worship Him -- in spirit and in truth.
#WhenIDontUnderstand
[Hebrews 4:15 MSG
The High Priest Who Cried Out in Pain -- We don’t have a priest who is out of touch with our reality. He’s been through weakness and testing, experienced it all -- He is Jesus.]
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