Is it Okay to Ask God Questions?
Have you ever wondered if it’s okay to ask God questions about His intentions, especially when times are rough? Steph Nickel reminds us that there is a difference between questioning God’s actions, and accusing Him of wrongdoing.
Should We Ask God Questions?
King David wrote Psalm 13 and it reads like this:
“How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest my enemy say, ‘I have prevailed over him,’ lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken. But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.”
Do you ever feel like life is an emotional rollercoaster? Most of us do. And King David was no exception.
This man after God’s own heart, as it says in Acts 13:22, didn’t just point his finger at evildoers; He questioned God’s actions and intentions as well. Some of us may think that is very dangerous ground. I believe God welcomes honest questions, but as we learn from the book of Job, we must never accuse Him of wrongdoing. That’s something altogether different.
Despair, disillusionment, depression . . . King David was familiar with all these emotional states—as I’m sure you are as well, at least to one degree or another.
The Gift of Faith
When my children were young, I let them know that God was big enough to accept and answer their honest questions. I didn’t expect them to believe in the Lord and what the Bible had to say about Him simply because their dad and I did though, of course, their spiritual wellbeing was—and is—of prime importance to me.
Sometimes, as parents, we’re worried that we won’t have the answers if our children begin to question the tenets of our faith. But the good news is that we don’t have to. We can seek to discover the answers together. Plus, at the end of the day, it is God who is responsible to give the gift of faith.
We won’t necessarily find these answers overnight. We can tell from the psalmist’s words that he had been wrestling with his questions for quite some time. “How long, O Lord . . .” He asks that question—how long?—four times in the first five sentences of this psalm.
Focusing on the Lord
Truth be told, it isn’t only our children who sometimes have questions about what God is doing and thinking. If we take a close look at our thoughts and feelings over the years—and maybe even today—we will likely realize our faith journey has had many ups and downs, mountaintops and valleys.
It is unlikely that you are facing death at another’s hand at this moment—but you may be. And if you are, King David knew how you felt. He often feared for his life at the hands of an enemy—and sometimes the enemy was a member of his own family. Even so, he turned his focus on the Lord. He prayed for favour and deliverance. Plus, even before he saw the answer, he declared God’s goodness. That’s incredible when you think of it.
Weep with those who Weep
I think we often don’t give fellow Christians the opportunity to walk through this process step by step. We expect them to jump right to the last step: declaring God’s praises and confirming their absolute trust in Him.If we expect this of others, we likely expect it of ourselves. Therefore, we won’t ask for help when we’re experiencing an emotional low. We assume others will think we’re spiritually inferior and should just get over it. But this may or may not be how they feel.
In fact, I’ve often found that if I’m vulnerable and open, it gives the other person the assurance that I won’t judge them if they are struggling spiritually. They will likely open up to me more readily if they don’t think I “have it all together.”
We are to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep, as it says in Romans 12:15. We cannot, however, do this if others don’t feel free to share what’s on their heart.
Declare the Goodness of God
When Christians gather together, we should feel safe to reveal our heart and our thoughts.
It should provide us with the opportunity to stand with one another in prayer, dig into God’s Word, discover more about His nature, and to come to the place where we encourage one another to proclaim the truth of His goodness even before our circumstances change.
This should be the case whether we’re gathered with one other believer, our church family, or our spouse and children during a time of family devotions.
May we teach our children by our example that it is okay to question God—always keeping in mind that we must not accuse Him of wrongdoing.
May we lead them in proclaiming, as King David did,
“But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.”
Psalm 13:5-6
May we all declare the goodness of God—no matter what circumstances we’re facing.
How do you deal with questions? Contact us– we’d love to hear from you!
Steph Nickel
Steph Beth Nickel is eclectically interested and eclectically involved. In all she does, Steph seeks to nurture and inspire. She is currently working on the first book in a nonfiction series. Nurture and Inspire LOVE is a compilation of the first devotionals she wrote for HopeStreamRadio.
Steph is a freelance writer and editor. She is the coauthor of Paralympian Deb Willows’ award-winning memoir, Living Beyond My Circumstances, published by Castle Quay Books. Deb and Steph are working on a follow-up book.
You can visit her website, stephbethnickel.com, to learn more about her.
Visit Steph’s contributor’s page or at Steph Nickel’s Eclectic Interests.
Hi i am struggeling with questions and have been told not to ask such a question but I want to understand how everything comes together .: the word says that in the begining the earth was empty and wild and God spirt sore over the earth ? How did God exsist and where did God come from ,cause how can one just exsist just my question that is making me wonder how all is just here
Hi Jacques, this is in fact a question that has been asked and will be asked for generations, until the Lord returns. The issue is that we are trying to understand an infinite truth with finite understanding. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and everything that we can understand about it. But we can only understand that which God has revealed to us. We understand time, which God created when he formed all things, and we are bound by time, so we can’t understand timelessness in the sense that God exists in eternity, where time doesn’t exist. We can understand this universe, which God made and gave to us, but God isn’t held by the universe, on the contrary, He holds all things together (Colossians 1:17). It is good to ask these questions, as it is good to desire to know more about our great God and our Lord Jesus Christ. One final thought, for those of us who believe in His Son, we will have all the answers to these difficult questions when He takes us out of time and into eternity with Himself.