QUESTIONS FOR GOD

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and he said:

“Who am I, Lord God, and what is my family, that You have brought me this far? And as if this were not enough in Your sight, my God, You have spoken about the future of the house of Your servant. You, Lord God, have looked on me as though I were the most exalted of men.”

“What more can David say to You for honoring Your servant? For you know Your servant, Lord. For the sake of Your servant and according to Your will, You have done this great thing and made known all these great promises.”

1 Chronicles 17:16-19

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Do you have questions that you’re storing up for God someday, things that just baffle and confuse you and there seems to be no clear answer either from God’s word or those well versed with wisdom from it?

Contemporary Christian singer Chris Rice wrote a song about this very matter titled “Questions for Heaven”. Here’s a look at a few of the lyrics and you can listen to the song here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDrNroBGHE4:

With questions I can't wait to ask Him
Like why did You bother with so many stars?

Do You ever play tricks on the angels?

And what happened to all of those dinosaurs?

Where's the Garden of Eden?

And what causes deja vu?

Do our jokes make You laugh?

What's Your favorite cartoon?

Can You tell me what's out past the edges?

And what about UFOs, taste buds and tornados?

Why do we dream?

Oh and what causes deja vu?

Maybe you wonder about some of the same things or maybe your questions might be on a more serious note like:

- Why do natural disasters come and destroy property and lives?

- Why do babies die before they are born or shortly after coming into the world?

- Why is there evil in the world?

- Why do good things happen to good people?

- Why do you allow pain and suffering?

- Why can’t we find a cure for certain diseases?

There is no shortage of questions one could come up with I’m sure if they really sat down to think about it. Such are the mysteries of life and our limited understanding of the world we live in.

As we look at our scripture passage today, we find King David, fresh off receiving a word from the Lord delivered by his prophet Nathan, sitting before the Lord where he entered into prayer and began to ask some questions of his own. They included:

1. “Who am I, Lord God, and what is my family, that You have brought me this far?

and

2. “What more can David say to You for honoring Your servant?”

Note that David’s questions were quite different than the ones I have written about earlier. His questions were not focused on the matters of the world but rather questions regarding his relationship with the Lord Almighty. David didn’t right with a sense of any entitlement from God. Instead, he wrote with a spirit of humility, fully understanding where he stood before the Creator God who made him and had brought Him to this time and place.

Let’s look closer at David’s two questions.

First, “Who am I Lord God, and what is my family, that You have brought me this far?”

I love the modest attitude that David displays before God here. Instead of questioning why things have happened the way they have in his life, David wondered why they haven’t. In other words, David viewed himself and his family as not worthy of God’s goodness and favor. Although he was king of Israel, we get a sense that David didn’t see himself as special and deserving of special treatment by God. Rather, David wondered why God would exalt him and bless his family at all.

Perhaps, we should adopt a similar attitude in the way we approach the Lord God Almighty in our own lives. Instead of living life like we deserve it, like we somehow have earned the right to live and get what we need from God, maybe we should consider how we are blessed we are to have life despite our sinful nature. For when it comes right down to it, none of us are deserving of any good thing from God and yet He lavishes His mercy, grace, and love upon us. Instead of wiping us off the face of His creation, something we deserve to have happen, He forgives us and grants us pardon when we repent and place our hope, faith, and trust in Jesus,

Maybe if we lived with an attitude such as the one David displayed here, we would wonder as David did as to how the Lord brought us and our families this far.

The second question was as profound as the first: “What more can David say to you for honoring Your servant?”

I know that I have been left speechless on more than one occasion by something God has done for me and so I can fully relate to David’s mindset here.

What can we say to a God who blesses and sustains us despite the sinners that we are?

I think it’s simple for all we need to say is “thank you”.

Thank you for His mercy, grace, and love.

Thank you for the abundant goodness He shows us.

Thank you for how He uses ordinary people to do extraordinary things.

And thank you for the opportunity to not perish but have eternal life through a belief and trust in Jesus, His Son who was given as a sacrifice to pay the price for our sins. Through Jesus we are justified (or in other words in a state where we are just as we have never sinned) and pardoned so that we might live with Him and His Father forever.

Friends, before we start questioning God about everything else in life, maybe we, like David, should start questioning how we could ever be worthy of His goodness and blessings, goodness and blessings that are so abundant that we should be left with only one thing to say and that should simply be “thank you”.

It’s the least we can give back to a God who is so generous to us. There’s little question about that.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

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