Thought for Today
Psalm 20:1 The LORD answer you in the day of trouble! The name of the God of Jacob protect you!
Isaiah 45:11 Thus says the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker: Will you question me about my children, or command me concerning the work of my hands?
Matthew 21:23 When he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, "By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?" 24 Jesus said to them, "I will also ask you one question; if you tell me the answer, then I will also tell you by what authority I do these things.
“Will you come and follow me if I but call your name? Will you go where you don’t know and never be the same? Will you let my love be shown? Will you let my name be known, will you let my life be grown in you and you in me?” (The Summons, lyrics by John H. Bell)
Do you ever question God? Do you ever doubt? Is it okay to question God, to doubt the wisdom of God’s plans, laws and commandments? When you do, and I suspect all thinking Christians do ask questions, do you receive answers? Assuming you do receive answers in some fashion, what is God saying to you in answer?
In our lives, especially in our faith lives, the delicate balance between questioning and obeying is difficult to establish and to maintain. It always has been; it always will be. How do we draw the line between faithful obedience, free will, and using our own, individual God-given minds and abilities?
One of my favorite ministers in our church in Houston liked to tell us that he loved our particular faith tradition because it did not ask us to check our brains at the door to the sanctuary. By that, he meant that the dogmas and tenets of our faith required that we carefully and faithfully think about our faith, our beliefs and the lives we live. Even the most cursory reading of John Calvin’s Institutes of the Christian Religion, will reveal that Reformed Protestants are called to carefully think about our faith.
I do believe that “Hebrews 11:1 . . . faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” But, our assurance and our conviction must come from careful consideration of the faith we profess to believe. I do not believe that our Creator God intends for any of God’s children to be mindless automatons, mechanically proceeding through life without any thoughts or considerations of plans, purposes or consequences.
I also believe that our faith in Jesus, the Christ, our assurance of God’s love and conviction of God’s covenant faithfulness will inevitably bring us to answering the questions in The Summons with a resounding “YES!!!” I believe that is also answered in another favorite song, Here I Am, Lord. “Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord? I have heard you calling in the night. I will go, Lord, if you lead me. I will hold your people in my heart.”
I did not literally hear God calling in the night. I have spent my entire life “in the church.” My parents were faithful Christians; we attended worship every Sunday. Both of my parents were active in church activities. The church has always been a part of my life.
I also believe, however, that God calls all of God’s children to service. There are many different calls to a plethora of services. I believe our calls and our services sometimes change during our lifetimes. In my own life I have been called to be a faithful congregant, then a teacher in Sunday School, and, ultimately to ministry.
I heard that call to ministry not at night, but, maybe frightfully, on my regular commute to my job in industry. Over a period of time, I heard God calling. I heard God asking, “Will you come and follow me if I but call your name? Will you go where you don’t know and never be the same? Will you let my love be shown? Will you let my name be known, will you let my life be grown in you and you in me?”
For what it’s worth, hearing that question elicited a surfeit of questions from me. Ultimately, however, I remembered, “Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who maintains covenant loyalty with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.” Ultimately, I realized that God will lead me to where God wishes me to be. God called; I questioned; God answered.
It is okay to ask questions. God wants us to ask questions, to be in dialogue with God and to receive the answers to those things in God’s Creature we do not understand. When we ask, when we listen for and to God’s answers, we grow closer to God.
Ask, listen carefully, trust God,
Pastor Ray