The Bible Doesn’t Say That: Never Question God Genesis 50:15-21
A child asked his father, “How were people born?” So his father said, “Adam and Eve made babies, then their babies became adults and made babies, and so on.” The child then went to his mother, asked her the same question and she told him, “We were monkeys then we evolved to become like we are now.” The child ran back to his father and said, “You lied to me!” His father replied, “No, your mom was talking about her side of the family.”
As a child, I was told by many adults to never question God. Why and God were never to leave my lips in that order. God was sovereign. God was in control. God was not to be interrogated by little ole me about anything…period. I was to be a good soldier.
But then your father dies when you are just a boy. Then one of your classmates dies in a car wreck. Then one of your classmates commits suicide. Prett y soon there is a conflicting need to ask God some important questions, big questions. Like…Why? But always the general response from elders and teachers was God is in control and do not question why. Be a good soldier.
Alfred Lord Tennyson in his 1854 poem “The Charge of the Light Brigade,” echoes this refrain to be a good soldier when bad things are happening and we don’t understand. In his poem, he describes soldiers heading into a dangerous battle, into the “valley of Death,” he calls it. What was on the minds of those soldiers? Did they wonder what they were doing there? Tennyson responds in verse: “Forward, the Light Brigade!”/ Was there a man dismay’d? / Not tho’ the soldier knew / Some one had blunder’d:/ Theirs not to make reply, / Theirs not to reason why, / Theirs but to do and die: / Into the valley of Death .”…From Tennyson we get the popular those misquoted phrase, “Ours is not to reason why. Our is but to do and die.” In other words, be quiet, get on with life, and do not question God.
But if you ever open this book called the Bible, you find that people are questioning God all the time. What we find though is that there are appropriate and beneficial ways to question God and there are inappropriate and unproductive ways to question God. The Bible says never question God, but the Bible does teach us HOW to question God.
Do not question God in order to create a lame defense for yourself: Cain kills Abel. When confronted by God, Cain replies, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Gen. 4:9). God responds, yeah, you don’t get it do you. How about being made a fugitive for the rest of your life?
Do not question God’s cosmic authority and sovereignty: When Job questioned God for allowing Job to suffer so greatly, the Lord reminded Job who without a doubt has authority over the universe: “Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said: 2 “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge? 3 Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me” (Job 38:1-3)
But there are two places from the heart that we question God: First, we question God because we want to understand by growing in wisdom; Second, we question God how long must we wait for deliverance?
First, we question God because we want to understand by growing in wisdom.
If you read the Scriptures, it becomes clear that our understanding is so limited and incomplete, compared to the Almighty God’s. The prophet Isaiah writes, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).
But, yet we want to know God’s ways! We want to grow in wisdom and stature, as did the adolescent Jesus.
So what to do? James writes, ” If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind” (James 1:5-6).
We grow in wisdom through reading the Scriptures daily. Praying without season. Meditating as Jacob did in the outdoors, in the field. When we quiet our minds in Scripture reading, praying, and meditating, we realize that there is this incessant drama of desires playing out within us, vying for control of our life, and we begin to learn that our mind and body can be disciplined to accomplish things we never thought we could accomplish. We begin to realize that when we take on the mind of Christ and live in the wisdom of the Holy Spirit, we can begin to leave a well-ordered life, not free from struggle, but full of life and joy, nonetheless.
Second, we question God how long must I wait for deliverance. The Psalmist cries out, “O God, why do you cast us off forever? (Psalm 71:1) The prophet Habbakuk calls out, “O Lord, how long shall I cry for help, and you will not hear? Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save?” Of course most of the time, when we read the writings of the prophets, the prophets unabashedly point out that we are often, not always, complicit in our current dilemma. Not that we should take on blame that doesn’t belong to us, but always not be to quick to place blame entirely on someone else without looking at our own responsibility.
Regardless, when we find ourselves in a tough spot, a life event that is emotionally tearing us apart, we cry out to God, not so importantly with the question why is this happening, but how long until my salvation comes.
This question was asked for centuries by the people of Israel, whether they were under foreign rule by the Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Persians, Greeks, or Romans. How much longer must we wait until God saves us?
And here is the Good News. Paul preaching about the risen Jesus, says the waiting is over. In your suffering, in your struggle, in your moment of pain, confusion and heartbreak, the waiting is over. Quoting the Prophet Isaiah, Paul shares a good word from the Lord, ““In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.”
And what is our response to this Good News? Paul goes on to write in 2 Corinthians 7:1, “Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.” Because God has offered the gift of his grace to you through Jesus Christ, purify yourselves. Empty yourself of greed, envy, resentment, hate, and fear, all those things that are holding you down and making you miserable. Let go of those things and with the Spirit of God empowering you, take up your bed and walk.
As we said last week, there is this constant dynamic and interplay of God’s grace and your empowered response that will lead you to a better life, to true joy, to salvation, to a new life.
If anyone had a reason to question God, it was Joseph. Joseph, the son of Jacob, loyal, helpful to this father, and devoted to God. Yet his jealous brothers through him in a pit to die. He is pulled out the pit by slave traders who sell him to Pharaoh’s house. He saw some very low and painful moments in his life. But by God’s grace and his faithful response to that grace, Joseph becomes a powerful man in the house of Pharaoh, and when Joseph brothers come to Egypt to escape famine and ask for food, they suddenly realize that the powerful man standing before them is Joseph, the man whom they jealously tried to murder as a youth.
Here is how Joseph responds to them: 19 But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. 21 So then, don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your children.” And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them” (Genesis 50:19-21).
This is why ultimately it is not best to ask why, but only to ask God to bring me clarity and wisdom in the midst of my difficulty that I might see the good in this, that I might see how this plays out, how, Lord, you are going to take an evil and awful situation, and transform it by your grace into something life-giving to others. This ultimately why it is healthy to ask how long, because we know that when the waiting is over, God is going to reveal something new, something beautiful.
This is the now but not yet nature of God’s kingdom on earth. God is now, present in our suffering, but we have not yet fully seen how he is going to transform us, our enemies and the world through our moment of suffering into some meaningful and good.
And so I encourage you as one who has suffered great loss and disappointment as you, to proclaim with Paul and the Prophet Isaiah: “I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.” Believe in that. Trust in the God who makes that promise and know that God will deliver, even as we ask God to give us wisdom and to bring our suffering to an end.
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