Are you there? Why aren't you answering?
These are questions we ask more often than not
especially to our Creator and Father.
Is it wrong for us to question His authority?
Questions. Yield. Answers.
Granted sometimes the answer doesn't come when we want it to
and sometimes it's not the answer we want, but God answers
and when it seems like only silence ensues, we have to realize
that we just don't see that He is responding. I, myself have often
questioned if God was near. And if He was why did it feel like He was
hiding from me. Did people in the Bible suffer and wonder as we do?
The. Answer. Is. Yes.
David. When you think of David, most of us think of slingshots, Giants, and sheep.
BUT how many of us realize that David also questioned God, not His existence, but his
presence. Throughout the Bible David asks things like:
"Why, O Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?" (Psalm 10:1) and
"My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? My tears have been my food day and night while men say to me all day long, 'Where is your God' ... I say to God my Rock, "Why have you forgotten me?" (Psalm 42:2-3,9)
I have found myself asking these same questions. And not just in times of trouble, but just through times of confusion. I used to think it was wrong to question. However, it doesn't say anywhere that we can't question him, faith isn't perfection, it's about trusting and believing, but in times of spiritual frustration it's hard to find those qualities, especially when it feels as if God has left us by the wayside. Jeff Kinley says in his book "Losers Club" that... "That's why you should have hope. In the loneliest days of your life-- when so much is uncertain-- you can be confident of one thing: You are not alone in your struggle... And God never intended for you to handle this crisis by yourself... others understand exactly what you're going through" (1 Peter 5:9)
It. Makes. Sense.
I had a conversation last night about all of this to a degree. The conversation focused on why Christians sugar-coat things. That if we are truly living a Christian life we should find joy in the fact that it's not easy. James 1:2-4 says: "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you face trails of many kinds, for the testing of your faith develops perseverance, perseverance must finish it's work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." God tells us we will go through bad times, but he later tells us in Hebrews that "Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you" God is present, all the time, we just lack the vision to see that He is there. We must make a choice between depending on our emotions, or depending on God's promise. We must walk by faith, not by sight.
Grace and Peace.
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