Question vs. Conclusion

WHEN: September 29th 2009
AUTHOR: Stefani
CATEGORY: Blog
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God is Faithful. God is Just. God is Love. God is Good. God Exists. …..

Can you say with 100% certainty whether these statements are true or false? What has brought you to that conclusion?

With every passing day, life stirs up questions about everything. From the simplicity of wondering why sunsets are orange to more heavy inquiries like trying to understand why a loved one had to die, the questions never seem to stop popping up. And then there is the matter of God. Who is He? Does He exist? Why does He let bad things happen?

Too often questions rise up and people skip the asking stage and go straight to a conclusion. In fact, they don’t even recognize the questions as questions at all! They immediately live as if the question were a statement of fact, and they go directly to a conclusion.

Here’s an example. Joe loses his job. He begins to wonder, is God really faithful? If He was faithful, I wouldn’t have lost my job, right? And with that, Joe concludes God is not faithful. A while later, Joe visits Africa and witnesses a child dying due to starvation. Joe is disgusted by the remembrance of a ridiculous episode of My Super Sweet 16 he saw, and begins to wonder, is God just? The moment the question presents itself, Joe decides, nope, God must not be just. Life goes on and Joe’s confusion continues to grow. He begins to doubt that God cares about anyone. Then he finally asks, does God even exist? That was the day Joe became an atheist. He had witnessed too many things that made Him question whether or not God was paying attention, he didn’t understand why circumstances had ended up the way they did, and God certainly hadn’t done anything to prove that He is really out there. Therefore, God must not exist.

This story is all too common. Where would Joe be today if he had pursued an answer to his questions? It is normal to have doubts. It isn’t bad to question things. In fact, it is not wrong in the slightest bit to question the character of God.

Don’t let your question be your conclusion. As things come up that you don’t understand, don’t stop there. Ask the question. Seek the answer. Find the Truth.

Here’s the one rule though. Don’t let the initial appearance of a circumstance determine the answer. Investigate. Discover what lies beneath the conditions. Give God an opportunity to reveal who He is in the midst of it all.

So Ask. Seek. Find. And know that there will be no finding unless you first ask, then persevere as you seek. The Truth will be found.