Tues., Oct. 16, 2018

Job 1:8 – The Lord said to the Adversary, “Have you thought about my servant Job; surely there is no one like him on earth, a man who is honest, who is of absolute integrity, who reveres God and avoids evil?”

“When are we going to be done?”

It was such an innocent question. A question that has been asked millions of times by other young 4- or 5-year-old boys.

It’s the context that makes the difference. It was during Sunday worship, right in the middle of the message. The pastor, who happens to be the young lad’s grandpa, hesitated momentarily and spoke back to his young grandson, “I’ll try to speed up the sermon, Collin.”

There was a collective chuckle throughout the worship space.

I love this age-group of kids. They have their own thoughts and ideas, yet they are not yet jaded. In their innocence, they are brutally honest and often speak whatever is on their mind.

Just like what happened during Sunday worship.

Haven’t we all, at some point or another, thought to ourselves, “When is this sermon going to be done?” Or “Will this worship service ever get over?”

The difference: this young guy wasn’t afraid to ask his grandfather, during worship with no hesitation.

Have there been times and situations in your life when you really wanted to ask an honest question … but didn’t? Maybe we felt it would be inappropriate. Or we didn’t want to interrupt. Or we were confident we wouldn’t really get an answer anyways. Or an answer we’d be happy with.

So, we stay quiet. We formulate a variety of possible outcomes in our brains, often based on incomplete information. Our minds go a million possible directions with no guarantee we’ve even come up with the right response.

Even more important? Grandpa took a few seconds and answered his inquisitive grandson. And keep rolling along.

One reason people may stop asking God honest questions is because we feel there is no answer. Or we won’t receive an answer we’ll like. This should not stop us from asking honest questions: to God, our peers and those around us.

Job is admired because he was honest, lived with integrity and respected God and tried to avoid evil. His friends keep trying to convince him that the reason he lost everything, and I mean everything, is because at some point, he wasn’t honest with God. In fact, the opposite is true. Job never gavep on God. Eventually, God shows us and gives a powerful answer to Job.

Tough questions are OK … as long as we are honest. If we have respect for God and answers to prayers and requests are different from our wishes, God is fine with us questioning God. The question is: can we be OK with God?

Collin sat through the rest of the service, no more spoken aloud questions. He must have been satisfied with Grandpa’s answer.

What is the lesson for us? Ask God anything you wish. Seriously. You may reach a spot where you can accept God’s answers, whether you agree or not. But let’s not stop asking questions. Let’s keep them rolling.

For complete honestly, I am thankful.

Lord God – sometimes, our questions seem difficult and challenging. But for you, no question is impossible. May we listen when you answer our questions, even if the answer is very different from our desired answer. Help us be significantly honest with you. Amen.

Blessings –

Dianne

If you have enjoyed this blog, please pass it along to someone else who will also enjoy it.