QUESTIONS FOR GOD

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In Christ, Mark

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

Look down from heaven and see, from Your lofty throne, holy and glorious.

Where are Your zeal and Your might?

Your tenderness and compassion are withheld from us.

But You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us or Israel acknowledge us; You, Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is Your name.

Why, Lord, do You make us wander from Your ways and harden our hearts so we do not revere You?

Isaiah 63:15-17a

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

One of my favorite Christian song writers has been Chris Rice. One of his songs was simply titled, “Questions For Heaven”, as he pondered things that were a mystery to him and decided to ask God about them one day. Some of his questions included:

- Why did You bother with so many stars?
- Do You ever play tricks on the angels?
- What happened to all of those dinosaurs?
- Where's the Garden of Eden?
- What causes déjà vu?

- Do our jokes make You laugh?
- What's Your favorite cartoon?
- Can you tell me what's out past the edges?
- What about UFOs, taste buds, and tornados?
- Why do we dream, oh and what causes déjà vu?

After all this querying, he concludes the following:

I guess in Heaven I'll learn
I'll be waiting my turn
To ask about quasars and feathers
I hope the line isn't long
I hope Your patience is strong
It's a good thing forever's forever

Perhaps we all have a lot of questions we’ve been storing up for God through our own life experiences. So much of what we encounter through the years is a mystery to us and I believe we all find ourselves asking the Lord why a lot of things are the way they are, eventually coming to the same conclusion as Chris did.

We may just have to wait until we see God face to face to fully understand things.

As we continue to look at Isaiah 63, we find the people of Israel having some questions of their own for God. Look again at these verses:

Look down from heaven and see, from Your lofty throne, holy and glorious.

Where are Your zeal and Your might?

Your tenderness and compassion are withheld from us.

But You are our Father, though Abraham does not know us or Israel acknowledge us; You, Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is Your name.

Why, Lord, do You make us wander from Your ways and harden our hearts so we do not revere You?  Isaiah 63:15-17a

If you’ve been following this blog for any period of time or have knowledge of the state of Israel in the latter part of this Book of Isaiah, then you know they were in the midst of a seventy year exile at the hands of the Babylonians, a penalty imposed on them by God for their apostasy and unfaithfulness unto Him. Even though God had commanded them not to worship false gods or idols, the Israelites did so any ways and as a result, they suffered the consequences for their actions, ripped away from their homeland than was then laid to waste.

They had chosen to give God nothing and so in return, He ensured they had nothing including His presence and help. Maybe then the Israelites would come to appreciate the God who had done so much for them and their ancestors. He deserved better than what they had given Him and He wasn’t about to lower His expectations. His people would give all to Him as He gave all to them or else.

And so in the midst of their captivity, we find the Israelites asking questions of God from the midst of their hardship.

They wondered where His zeal and might were.

They wondered why God allowed them to wonder from His ways in the first place.

They wondered why God would permit their hearts to harden so they would not worship and adore Him above anything else in life.

In other words, the people of Israel were wondering why God would consent to them living in a sinful way, devoted to false gods and separate from Him.

Maybe we wonder some of the same things and more such as:

- Why would God allow anyone to commit sinful acts that hurt someone else, even killing them in the worst instances?

- Why does God allow people to suffer from affliction?

- Why does God allow evil in our world?

- If God is all powerful, why doesn’t He show His zeal and might to stop all difficulties from happening?

There is no question we can’t ask of God but that doesn’t mean we’ll receive all the answers we are looking for. Sometimes, like Chris Rice, all we can do is save them up for heaven and know one day we will see God in person at a time when all things will be revealed and made known to us.

Until then, we live by faith in a God who is mighty to save us through His Son Jesus, a God who is for us and wants the best for us, a God who is in control and holds all our lives in His hands, now and forever.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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