By Pastor RAUL GRANILLO

Questioning God.

I doubt anyone has not had at least one moment when they have questioned God. After all, we are human, and this world is full of things and pains that we just don’t understand. It has been that way since the fall. That is probably why the Bible is full of instances when man questions God, or struggles with what God is doing (Ps. 10,44,74,77; Hab. 1:2; Jdg. 6:36-40). It should be emphasized that there is nothing Biblically wrong with asking hard questions and putting them to the test. In fact, Paul writes,

“Test everything. Hold on to the good” (1 Thess. 5:21).

Knowing why you know what you know is important, because the only thing that fears hard questions is the lie. For that reason, we should test all things honestly so that we can eliminate the lie and know why we know what we know. However, this is often intimidating since questioning the status quo can be a dangerous thing. This is especially true when we live in a society where we have allowed the culture to define truth. When we allow culture and our personal desires to dictate truth to us, we have questioned in vain.

The problems of our lives come, not when we question God, but when we refuse to accept the truth that He reveals. Seeking truth is important, but accepting that truth can often be difficult.

The book of Job is full of questions and questioning God. Job is suffering and he wants to know why. His friends are so hung up on protecting their personal image of God that they insist Job must be bad. And in the end, the problem of pain is never answered, but instead God offers some insight that every one of us would do well to heed.

“Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?” (Job 38:2-5 NIV).

God is not impressed with anyone who presumes to know what He knows. It was God alone who created and designed all of creation. God desires us to learn and gain wisdom, but we must also realize that we, unlike God, are finite. For all of the amazing things we have discovered—and are still discovering—our total knowledge of all things is less than a drop in the ocean.

It is dangerous to be satisfied with ignorance. At the same time, we should never allow the truth to be hindered by culture, peer pressure, or our own personal desires. We are told to “have an open mind” and we are ridiculed if we do not. But he world is full real people who face with real suffering. And they can only be helped when we deal in reality—that is, when we accept absolute truth. For that reason, it is evil to have a mind open to anything but truth.

It is only when we draw near to the truth—to God—that we can hope to live a life of joy and to become light in the darkness. It is only when we trust God, and obey His commands and the style of living that He declares as righteous, that we will stop being a source of suffering in the world and finally become a source of peace.

Question. By all means, question. More importantly, acknowledge truth. When you do, regardless of who you are, it will always point to Jesus.

Jesus answered, “Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.” John 18:37b.

To find out more about La Vista Church, or to hear this and other messages, visit our website at www.lavistanaz.org or email me at raul@lavistanaz.org. Follow Pastor Raul on Twitter @RaulGranillo007

Please come join us as we fix our eyes on Jesus. We meet Sundays at 9 a.m. for Sunday school and 10 a.m. for worship. Everyone is welcome!