Tilling and Planting

Tag: Guidance

  • Unanswered Questions

    Unanswered Questions

    Intro

    Have you ever asked God questions when life doesn’t make any sense? Or when things go off the rails? I know I have. Often the question is “Why God?” And how many of those questions has God answered? For me personally, it feels like many questions go unanswered. When it comes to questioning God, some say it’s not right while others say God is big enough to handle our questions. So before I dig into why God might leave questions unanswered, I want to address the question of should we question Him.

    Can I Question God?

    In a word, yes! You most certainly can. However, there is this small matter called intent that I need to address.

    Look throughout the Scriptures and you’ll find people who asked God questions all the time – and you’ll see a whole lot of them God left unanswered. For most people, God remained gentle and kind toward them in their questioning. In many of those cases (Abraham, Job, Moses, others), He reaffirmed who He was to them without directly answering their questions. And that was enough for them.

    However, there’s also those whom God rebuked (Israelites in the wilderness, Pharisees, Zechariah – New Testament). So what’s the difference? Why did God rebuke some and respond with love and compassion to others? It comes down to their heart. As God told Samuel, He “looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7).

    The Heart Question

    Those that God rebuked questioned God (or Jesus) as if they knew better. They actively resisted receiving Him with thanksgiving (Israelites), praise (all of them), and recognition even though they should have known better (Pharisees). And others questioned Him with doubt and bitterness (Zechariah). They had no faith in God and this became the genesis of their questions. Consequently their questions went largely unanswered. Instead the people got rebuked for their questioning. Honestly, getting the answers would not have changed their hearts. Thought at least in Zechariah’s case, the rebuke resulted in a heart change. Praise God that even those whom God Almighty rebukes can get a second chance.

    For those He didn’t rebuke, their questions came from places of honest doubt, confusion, and humility. They genuinely sought God and whether He answered their questions directly or not, they all chose to trust Him. And that’s the key. When we have questions, we need to be prepared to trust God no matter the answer – or lack thereof.

    Reasons

    Before I go on, I do want to address different types of reasons that could be the answer when we say “why”.

    The first type is because of a choice we make. Sometimes I think some Christians assume that they can make careless choices and not suffer the consequences. And then ask God “why” when they do. But God never once promises that we will not suffer the consequences of our choices. In fact, just the opposite. The Bible speaks about people dealing with the consequences of their choices all the time. Paul warns about it quite a bit in his letters. Going 20 over the speed limit? God is not obligated to blind all the police to your dangerous speeding. In fact, God might urge a cop to pull you over so you learn your lesson before you hurt someone or yourself.

    Secondly, if it wasn’t by your choice, maybe it was the choice of someone else. We live in a fallen world where people have free will. Why did that person die in a car crash? Because the other person made a choice to drive drunk. People resist God all the time and make choices that unfortunately hurt His followers.

    The third type would be the ones that are truly not from any choice anyone made. Such as cancer or other diseases and sickness. Why do these happen to godly people? The short version goes back to we live in a fallen world where that just happens to people. We can’t control it. Now to move on to answering the “Why do these things happen to godly people” question.

    Why do These Things Happen?

    Of the three types of reasons that I went over, the second two are the ones that are most relevant here I think. I don’t want to spend any more time on the first one since that one can be summed up as “I made a bad choice and suffered the consequences.” And hopefully I learned a lesson to never do something like that again.

    I didn’t do it

    The second two are a bit more complicated since I (or you) didn’t make any choices and something bad still happened to us. In those cases the question oftentimes comes from why didn’t God protect His children from either the choices of others or the fallen nature of the world. I think one answer can be found in how God’s sovereignty actually works – and is the topic that is often on trial for these things, along with God’s love, goodness, and justice. I address a lot of these in my posts on God’s Goodness and God’s Sovereignty.

    To summarize this position, God is good all the time and only does good things. He never uses evil to “get around to something good”. God chooses to limit Himself in a way by operating primarily through finite beings (us, angels). He wants us to exercise our free will and make the choices that will advance His Kingdom.

    Another possible answer to why some of these things happen can be found in the Bible in Romans and James.

    Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

    Romans 5:3-5 (NIV)

    Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

    James 1:2-4 (NIV)

    I wish to reiterate that God will not bring the trials and sufferings upon us (though He will ask us to get outside our comfort zone at times, however that is very different from the trials and sufferings described here). However, when these things happen, God promises to be with us and to fashion in us a more Christ-like character and to work things out for the good. Jesus promised that we will have troubles in this world (John 16:33). After all, the world hated Him first (John 15:18-19).

    War

    And on top of that, Satan hates us Christians so much that he’s going to do what he can to derail us and make us ineffective and turn away from God. We are in a real war with a real enemy. So we can expect all kinds of attacks. Physical, financial, mental, etc.

    I Still Didn’t Answer the Question

    You might be thinking, Cory, you still didn’t answer the question of why God leaves some questions unanswered. And you’re right. Because truthfully, I don’t know why God doesn’t answer all our questions. I can only try to throw out ideas that might help you better understand why things happen. Unfortunately the Bible doesn’t give a clear answer in this area of God’s decision to not answer questions. All I can say is two things: He is God and He does what He will and second, He calls us to trust in Him when we don’t understand. And I believe that sometimes it’s because we don’t have the answers that we have to learn to trust God more and ultimately be drawn closer to Him. That’s the best answer I have.

    Wrapping Up

    I hope I introduced some insight into why bad things happen to good people. Whether by our own choices, the choices of others, this fallen natural world, or straight up attacks from the enemy, the bad things fall into one of these categories. I recognize I cannot give a concrete reason for God leaving questions unanswered, but He never promised to answer all our questions. He only promised to be with us and that we can trust Him always. And that’s something we need to ask God to help us become okay with. That’s one question He’ll gladly answer.

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!

  • The Shepherd

    The Shepherd

    Intro

    Jesus refers to Himself as The Shepherd. Even more specifically, the Good Shepherd. What exactly does Jesus mean by this? In what ways is Jesus like a shepherd. And how are we, His followers, like sheep?

    Sheep

    To understand why Jesus likens Himself to a shepherd and us to sheep, it would help to get an understanding of what sheep are like. Here’s a handful of characteristics of sheep that as humans, we tend to resemble. Disclaimer: I found the original list here. Credit where credit is due.

    No Sense of Direction

    Sheep are notorious for wandering. Without a shepherd to guide them, the sheep will get hopelessly lost. They’ll likely go wherever the sheep ahead of them goes. If a couple of sheep wander off a cliff, the rest of the flock will probably follow. Stories of sheep doing exactly that are well documented. Here’s one such story.

    Hundreds of sheep followed their leader off a cliff in eastern Turkey, plunging to their deaths this week while shepherds looked on in dismay. Four hundred sheep fell 15 metres to their deaths in a ravine in Van province near Iran but broke the fall of another 1,100 animals who survived. Shepherds from a nearby village neglected the flock while eating breakfast, leaving the sheep to roam free. The loss to local farmers was estimated at $74,000.

    Sounds pretty dumb, right? But let’s be honest. How many people do something, follow some fad, some star just because “it’s cool.” So many people go along with the crowd because they want to be “in.” We don’t always think about the consequences. We just want people to accept us – even if it means doing dumb (or dangerous) things.

    Defenseless

    When you think about an animal who’s great at defending themselves, sheep are probably not the first one that comes to mind. Frankly, they’re terrible at it. Apart from ewes kicking when protecting their young or the fact that when frightened, the whole flock tends to run together (safety in numbers), they can’t defend themselves very well. That’s where the shepherd comes in. They defend the sheep against predators and their own stupidity.

    Similarly, we can run and maybe kick a little against small things, but when it comes to needing protection against the bigger enemies, we desperately need God’s divine protection. Without that, we will fall prey to Sin and Satan over and over again with no hope.

    Can’t Get Up

    I remember watching the VeggieTales adaptation of David and Goliath (Dave and the Giant Pickle) and thinking that the portrayal of sheep falling over and needing help to get back up was just a fun thing the creators put in. After all, there’s no way that there’s an animal incapable of standing back up when it falls over, right? Apparently, there is, it’s called a sheep. When sheep tip over (particularly on their backs), they are physically unable to stand back up. They require assistance from the shepherd to get back on their feet.

    How many times have we fallen in life and would have fizzled out or even died (whether self-inflicted or not) if we didn’t get help from God?

    Emotional and Recognizes Voices

    On a brighter note, sheep have an amazing ability to recognize the voice of the shepherd who cares for them. If a stranger’s voice tries to command them, they will more than likely run away in fear. They know who’s voice they are safe listening to. In addition, sheep are emotional creatures. They build friendships with other sheep and will even stick up for those friends in a fight. They can become anxious or distressed, and they feel sadness when a fellow sheep dies or is lost.

    I don’t think I need to explain the parallels to humans with this one. For we have all felt anxious or distressed at times and most (if not all) of us have felt the pain of a loved one passing away. We long for companionship and connection to fellow humans. And we learn from an early age, the voices of our parents. When strangers try to tell us to do something, we tend to question if we need to listen.

    Can’t Carry Burdens

    If there’s one thing that sheep were not made for, it’s carrying heavy loads. You will never see a sheep as a pack animal. They will be quickly crushed by such a burden. Similarly, God did not mean for us to carry the burdens of life like we do so often. God created us to be dependent on Him, and to give our burdens and trials of life to Him. We can’t carry it all on our own. We were never meant to.

    Settles For Less

    Sheep generally don’t know what’s good for them. If they see a dirty puddle, they’ll stop and drink from it – even though there might be clean water just a few feet away. As long as it satisfies in the moment, sheep just don’t care. Shepherds help the sheep find what’s good for them. And sadly, we are like that all too often. Rather than going after the good things of God, we settle for the things of this world which do not satisfy.

    Valuable

    Another point in favor of sheep is that they were quite valuable back in ancient times – and still are in different parts of the world. Owning large flocks of sheep indicated that one had wealth and influence. God declares us to be His special possession (1 Peter 2:9). God values humans above everything else in all of creation (Matthew 10:29-31).

    Can’t Care for Their Wounds

    Many animals lick their wounds until they heal. But not sheep. Sheep can’t do anything to help their wounds. Without treatment, sheep might die of easily treatable wounds. Shepherds are essential to the treatment of wounds. While we treat our physical wounds very well, we have no ability to treat our spiritual wounds on our own. We need help.

    Innocent

    Lastly, sheep are often associated with innocence and purity. How could you look at a sheep and blame it for anything worse than wandering away from the flock and getting lost? God calls us to be innocent and pure like sheep. Though that’s not possible without His sacrifice on the cross. Jesus washed away our sins and made us spotless as a sheep’s wool. Innocent in His sight.

    Jesus as The Good Shepherd

    Knowing now the nature of sheep, it doesn’t take much to understand the importance of a shepherd. And in John 10:11, Jesus declares himself to be the Good Shepherd. So, now I’ll describe how Jesus fits into that role of a shepherd. I’ll reference back to the list of sheep characteristics and show how Jesus fulfills these.

    Valuable, Innocent, Healed

    I’ve already mentioned how much God values us – similar to how valuable sheep have been. And I’ve also mentioned that through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, we are innocent and pure in God’s sight. And going along with that, the cross and resurrection provides the means through which God heals our spiritual wounds – much like the shepherd must care for the sheep’s wounds. Romans 6:8,11 (NIV), “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him…In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Through Jesus, God made us alive spiritually – totally healed.

    Guidance, Settling

    A shepherd leads his flock of sheep from one place to another. And he always leads them to the best pastures and waters he can find. He ensures that his flock will have everything they need and not settle for less. Psalm 23 is a fantastic passage to describe God leading us as a shepherd does his flock. “The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” (Psalm 23:1-4, NIV).

    Falling, Carrying Burdens

    I briefly asked how many times we might have fizzled out in life if God hadn’t been there to pick us up. To put a verse to this: Psalm 145:14 (NIV), “The Lord upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down.” When times are tough, God will be there always to lift us up. And furthermore, Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV) says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Jesus carries the burdens we cannot carry on our own. He invites us to come to Him and learn from Him, because His burden is light, and it’s light because He carries it with us.

    Defenseless

    A lot of people might get offended to think that we are defenseless like sheep. And in the physical world, I can’t argue that we will defend ourselves in a variety of ways. However, in the spiritual world, we got nothing. Our only defense against the powers of Satan and our own temptations comes from God. Only through Holy Spirit living in us and enabling us to we have any sort of defense against the dark powers that operate in this world. “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” Ephesians 6:11 (NIV). This verse makes it clear that we need God to stand against the devil. We can’t do it on our own.

    Hearing His Voice

    Jesus states in John 10 that sheep recognize the voice of their shepherd and He further states that His sheep know Him and know His voice (verses 3-4,14-16). A lot of people (myself included) struggle with this idea of hearing God’s voice. We wonder if we are hearing His voice or if it’s our own thoughts or if it’s the enemy trying to trick us. There is a process of learning to recognize God’s still small voice. It comes through spending time with God in prayer, worship, and reading of the Word. Simply knowing His word helps to prevent us from being deceived by other voices. After all, the Bible is the chief way by which He speaks to us.

    Wrapping Up

    Comparing people to sheep may not be the most flattering thing but praise be to God that we have a Good Shepherd to take care of us! I hope this instills more confidence, hope, and peace in your life.

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!