The Purpose Of Scriptural Questions

Mark 11:29 (NASB)  - And Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one question, and you answer Me, and then I will you by what authority I do these things.  

There are 3,294 questions  contained in the Word of God.  I think that fact alone qualifies the Holy Scriptures as being the most spiritually interactive book available to humankind.  Interestingly enough, the very first question we see in the Word appears in Genesis 3:1 , with God’s enemy  and ours, questioning Eve about  what God had so clearly said to the first couple about His expectations of them in the Garden of Eden—what they should and should not do, because He desired the very best for them and sought their highest good, as He does for us to this day. (Jeremiah 29:11)

A popular Christian radio preacher, who has gone to be with the Lord, once commented that, ‘the only thing we humans seem to have learned from history is that we’ve learned nothing from history!’  Can it be that we, even in the Household of Christian faith, are still evading the need to be responsive to our Lord’s redirective questions? That evasion can be summed in a one-word reply:  s-i-n.  All the wars, multiple injustices, oppression, social chaos, and breakdown of the family, are all symptoms of our refusal to submit ourselves to the governance of the One who created us.  Yet, marvel of all marvels, He still chooses to save whosoever will come and receive forgiveness of their sins, by believing in His only begotten Son!   All of us would do well to recommit to focusing daily on obeying God’s clear mandates on the types of persons we are to be, in our relationship with our Lord and with each other.  Unlike Adam and Eve, let’s not evade the questions of Scripture, or choose to embrace answers reflective of our own self-directed preferences, instead of what God has clearly commanded.

God’s questions are reliably redemptive in purpose.  Here are just a few.  Isaiah 40:28 poses a couple of questions to those who are weary.   In Job, chapters 38-42-- when God confronts Job about his (i.e., Job’s) need to recognize His complete sovereignty over all that happens in the universe-- there’s a litany of thought-provoking questions that Job couldn’t begin to answer.  Over in the New Testament, if you’re feeling unjustifiably aggrieved against, contemplate  Romans 8:33, 34—“Who can bring a charge against God’s elect? Who is he who condemns?  Do you ever feel sidetracked in your Christian walk?   Then consider this query in Galatians 5:7:  “You ran well.  Who hindered you from obeying the truth?”  When beset by a critical spirit, we can ponder this:  “And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?”  (Matt. 7:2, 3)  I could go on and on with the growth-inducing and therefore purposeful questions contained in the Word.  So, let’s not be like the first couple, preferring to lean upon their own understanding, evading our Lord’s loving yet confrontational questions.  Instead,  let us embrace the divine wisdom of  choosing His Lordship over all we endeavor to do in the coming new year.

Prayer:  Dear LORD: We confess that we are indeed prone to wander on occasion from what we clearly understand to be Your perfect will for us.  Yet You continue to confront us in our spirit out of Your heart of love and faithfulness to us.  Help us to cultivate a consistent and hasty response of repentance to Your divine queries about our Christian walk.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

(by Sis. Denise Diggs)