May
I Ask You Something, Lord?
No
man really becomes a fool until he stops asking
questions.
Charles Steinmetz
Do you have any answers for me?
Question to Chaplain Jeff Pugh
Why couldn’t it have been me?
Question from a surviving parent
Are you the Messiah, or shall we look for another?
Message from the imprisoned John the Baptist
Questions
pepper our conversations daily. And questions serve
many purposes for us.
Sometimes
they correct: Aren’t you going to finish that?
Sometimes they coerce: Wouldn’t your mother
want you to do this?
Sometimes they manipulate: Don’t you love me?
Sometimes they express anger: Why does this have
to happen now?
Sometimes they voice fears: Does anybody really
care?
Sometimes they deflect confrontation: Is that a
new dress?
Sometimes they seek wisdom: Can you help me understand?
Sometimes they seek needed honesty: Is this really
true?
Sometimes they question sanity: What else could
go wrong?
Sometimes they seek comfort: Do you believe in me?
Sometimes they test trust: Can I tell you something?
Sometimes they invite companionship: May I join
you?
Sometimes they engender learning: Could I explain
that to you?
Sometimes they deepen faith: Can you still love
me, Lord?
Sometimes they speak the unspeakable: Where are
you, O Lord?
Questions
proclaim truth, probe mysteries, prompt growth.
Seekers of spiritual enlightenment are at home with
questions. Biblical characters often conversed with
questions.
Questions
like the psalmist’s plaintive “How long,
O Lord?” Or Cain’s deflective “Am
I my brother’s keeper?” Or Job’s
profound query: “Will someone love God for
nothing?”
We
might at times avoid asking tough questions, thinking
it’s better to leave well enough alone.
But
we cannot—should not—avoid them. For it
is in honest questions we find an ever-present,
compelling God. . .a God who not only hears our
questions, but answers them with gentleness, tenderness,
and wisdom.
Any
questions?
—Virgil Fry
