Questions God Hands Back to You

We need to look in the mirror more often. We get upset with life and complain. We question the way God runs the world. But we are very slow to apply those questions to ourselves.

When calamity strikes and our hearts are filled with fear, anger and sorrow, we ask “Why?” Great men in the Bible did. Job said, “Why did I not die at birth?” (Job 3:11). Jeremiah asked God, “Why does the way of the wicked prosper?” (Jer. 12:1). Men have asked this question for thousands of years and they ask it all over the world today.

Are you willing to hear God in the Bible asking you “Why?” Do you consider yourself when you read II Samuel 12:9—“Why have you despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in His sight?”  Do you apply verses like I Samuel 15:19 to yourself—“Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord?” How can we ask why God allows evil when we commit evil?

Sometimes we wonder where God is when we need Him. One lady asked J. W. McGarvey that question. She said, “Where was God when my son died?” Brother McGarvey wisely said, “In the same place He was when His own Son died.”

Job was angry with God because he felt the Lord had forsaken him. He said, “Oh, that I knew where I might find Him” (Job 23:3). God turned that question on Job and asked, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” (Job 38:4). And if we wonder where God was when we needed Him, we might consider the same question from His perspective: Where were you when I needed you to help others, to teach the gospel to the lost, and to encourage the saints?

We also get frustrated and ask how long a bad situation will last. Habakkuk the prophet cried out to God, “O Lord, how long shall I cry, and you will not hear?” (Hab. 1:2). We can live with pain for a short time, but after a while we wonder how much more we can take. The burdens of life test our patience.

Doesn’t that question apply to you? How long will you try God’s patience? The Lord said the Israelites tested Him (Heb. 3:9). Are we that different? We say we’re going to do better. We hear sermons and know we need to change. We ask God to forgive us and vow to improve. Yet six months later we are in the same rut. We want God to listen to us and change things quickly, but we don’t listen to Him and we get in no hurry to do what He says. We want others to change instantly while we drag our feet with our own failures. It’s time to ask ourselves what we ask God: How long?

Jesus often answered a question with a question. That is not just a lesson in how to answer others. It is a reminder to look at ourselves.

Kerry

West End church of Christ • November 24, 2024