Kingdom Questions

By Pastor Jason GoubournFebruary

“Faith Matters” is a column that features pieces written by local religious figures.

My 5-year-old son is at the stage where he wants to know the why behind everything around him. “Why are leaves green?” “Why is the sun so bright?” “Why do referees wear striped shirts?” He is asking these questions because he is developing the desire to understand the world around him. Of course, after I answer all of his questions, regardless of how well I answer them, he inevitably responds with yet another “why?” Sometimes he’s being a silly 5-year-old, but many times he is sincere in his questioning because he has discovered that continuously asking “why” invites the opportunity for deeper levels of understanding with every inquiry. 

This is the very process that scientists engage in as they launch into another phase of research. Asking “why” frames the research question, guides the development of a testable hypothesis, and helps distinguish fact from opinion by grounding the study in evidence. The reality is, whether it’s ground breaking scientific research or the curiosity of a 5-year-old child, there is great benefit and power in asking questions.

Interestingly enough, all throughout the scriptures, you will find several moments where God, despite His omniscience, asks mankind various questions. In Genesis 3:9, He asks Adam, “Where are you?” In Exodus 4:2, He asks Moses, “What’s that in your hand?” In Ezekiel 37, He asks,“Can these bones live?” In my relationship with God and my study of the scriptures, I have found that God never asks questions because He is uninformed. The truth is, God is not like you and me. Each question that God asks is for our benefit and is typically meant to help us discover and understand something about ourselves, our situation and the world around us. They also give us an opportunity to receive revelation, and to reflect, repent, respond and recognize the importance of having reverence for Him.  

There are multitudinous purposes for God’s questions. They help us connect concepts and explore topics on a deeper level while simultaneously helping us to analyze, evaluate, and synthesize information, which is valuable in problem-solving. For example, when God asked Moses what’s in his hand, God was directing Moses’s attention to the staff he held, which God would utilize as a symbol of His faithfulness and power. In 1 Kings 19:9, when God asked Elijah, “What are you doing here?”, as he sat in a depressed state at the foot of Mount Sinai, God already knew the answer. The question really was meant to cause Elijah to reflect on his current emotional condition and evaluate where he had truly placed his trust. 

God’s questions are meant to cause us to recognize His power, love and grace. They provide a moment for us to examine our hearts, actions, and spiritual state. In some instances, they create an opportunity for us to recognize our error, confess our sins and seek reconciliation. They can also serve as a starting point for intimate and sincere times of prayer, while sometimes coming in the form of rhetorical questions that are meant to realign you with the reverence of God, as highlighted Job 38:25:“Who created a channel for the torrents of rain? Who laid out the path for the lightning?”. We’ll all have challenging moments in our lives where we are desperate for answers from God. During those times, if you feel God keeps responding by leading you to more questions, it could be that the best response to those challenges doesn’t come in the form of an answer. It comes in the form of a question.  

Jason Goubourn is the Lead Pastor of Church on the Rock New Haven and President of Church on the Rock Global.

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