Hard Questions

Don't be afraid to ask the hardest questions that rise up in your soul. But don't expect answers. Expect rather to experience God.

--Larry Crabb

We tend to avoid the toughest questions of life. We're scared of them. What if we ask a hard question, a question that challenges the core of our faith, and find no answer? What will happen to our faith then? We conclude that maybe it's best not to ask.

The genius of the book of Job in the Old Testament is that it gives us permission--even encourages us--to ask the very toughest questions. Job did, in the face of three friends who told him that such questions must never be asked. At the end of the story, God commends Job and scolds the three friends for misrepresenting Him. And Job, who receives no answers, has a deeper encounter with God than he ever thought possible.

So go ahead. Take your toughest questions to God. Wrestle with them; wrestle with Him. Voice your deepest doubts and your bitterest complaints. Fearlessly ask...

1. Are you really and truly there, or are you something people made up?
2. Why do you answer some prayers but not others?
3. Why do good people suffer and die well before it seems they should?
4. Why do you bless people who pay no attention to you, while while I face obstacle after obstacle with no apparent relief?
5. Why is my marriage falling apart despite my best efforts to save it?
6. Why have I been hurt by the very people who were supposed to love me the most?

The more frequently and honestly you bring these questions before God, the more richly you will experience the reality of God. Answers? You may get some; you may not get any. But I'll take God's presence--no matter how messy--over a neatly-wrapped package of answers any day!