Who?
What?
When?
Where?
Why?
How?
I feel like all our lives we’ve been trained to ask these questions. I know for me, being a journalist, I ask them all the time. I ask them of people, of my surroundings, of events in my life and most of all, I ask them of God.
But take a closer look at these questions. What do they represent to you? Trust? Faith? Patience? A feeling of peace? – Not at all. They represent an untrusting and unsettled spirit that desires its own selfish ambition. I know that’s the case for me. When I ask these questions what I’m really saying is, “I don’t believe what I SEE here.” And the definition of faith is “the evidence of things we cannot yet SEE.”(Heb. 11:1) The whole reason we ask these questions is to find truth. But God is truth. So if God has found us, we have found truth. But more importantly, these questions represent the flesh – they represent our sinful nature, not the Spirit of God living within us.
Now, I’m not saying we should be a bunch of accepting mutes and that being curious is a sin. Anyone that knows me will tell you I have a hard time with authority and that I challenge everything. So if you got questions take them to the Bible. What does the Word of God say about it? Research it, dig, pursue those answers. But what I’m talking about are questions like these:
“Who will I marry and why don’t you hurry up and bring her in my life?”
“What do I do in two months from now when I get back home?”
“When will you bring my dreams to reality?”
“Where will this path lead me God, I gotta know before I take it?”
“Why do I always have to deal with this or that in my life, enough already?”
“How will you ever accomplish these goals for my life?”
I ask these types of questions ALL the time, and I’ve learned God gets real quiet when I do. The reason is because it’s my flesh crying out, my sinful nature needing an answer in MY timing, not His. God will NEVER satisfy those fleshly desires by answering these questions.
“TRUST in the Lord with all your heart; DO NOT DEPEND ON YOUR OWN UNDERSTANDING.” – Proverbs 3:5
As a journalist I ask questions to get a better “understanding” of the situation. But living by the Spirit means TRUSTING IN THE LORD WITH ALL YOUR HEART. So by asking those questions of God I’m basically telling Him “I have no TRUST or FAITH in you.” The problem is I want to trust in the Lord with all my heart. But this world has taught me differently, my former profession taught me differently.
“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person BY CHANGING THE WAY YOU THINK.” – Romans 12:2
I tell ya folks, it gets so dang tricky right here. This is a daily deal for me – dying to the self and trying not to be worldly. Like Paul says you got to change the way you think, and the only way to do that is by filling up on the Word of God each day. And the Word of God tells me if I would just trust in Jesus He will become more and more at home in my heart and I’ll finally realize how great His love for me really is. Once I understand that, I’ll live in all the fullness and power that comes from God. (Eph. 3:17-19)
“Now glory be to God! By His mighty power at work within us, He is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.” – Ephesians 3:20
And the key to this life God is offering us – is stop asking questions and just TRUST Him. I know in my life when I have trusted the Lord with everything, He’s done amazing things thru me. I mean, look at where I’m at right now, I’m in the Philippines on a very dangerous island pouring encouragement and love over some of the most wonderful kids I’ve ever met. I never would have dared to ask or hope for such an honor. Amen Father, Glory to you!
