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