Answer to the Questions

Why did that person die?
Why do some women abandon their children while others wait decades only to grow old barren?
Why do people abuse the elderly?
Why did our baby die?
What is global warming and is it real?
When will Jesus come back?
Why does it cost so much to adopt?
When will my husband die?
Why do other people lose an only child to cancer and our houseful of babies are all perfectly healthy?
Why do bad things happen to good people?
Why did my husband lose his job?
What are my children going to grow up to be? Who are they going to grow up to be?
Has God only chosen certain people to be saved?
Does God offer salvation to everyone?
Can we lose our salvation?
Can we earn our salvation?
What is heaven like?
Will I see my loved ones there?
What if I get sick and can't take care of my children?
What if I don't "hear" God right and make the wrong decision?
What are we going to do for money?
Should we save for our childrens college education?
Should we save for retirement?
How much is enough?!
Is my loved one in heaven?
Are the Chiefs ever going to win a superbowl?

Questions, questions, questions.

I'm sure you could relate to at least some of those. Some, but certainly not all, are autobiographical; the rest are questions I've heard others raise. And they're legitimate. I'm a passionate person and I'm a thinking person. I want to know answers; and not pat answers. I want the Truth. Well, the Truth is, peace is not in the answers. I'm going to say a bold thing that may offend some but it needs to be said. The brightest theologians the world has ever produced, including the current best sellers, DO NOT HAVE THE ANSWERS. If he or she did, then we would not have that magnificent of a God now would we? "His thoughts are higher than our thoughts, His ways are higher than our ways." No matter how convinced the Armenian is that his theology is right, it is not. And no matter how convinced a Calvinist is that his theology is right, it is not. No man's theology is ANYWHERE NEAR discovering the ways of God. And no pursuit to discover what God is doing will ever satisfy all of our questions. And a humble theologian will admit to that. Our seminaries terrify me because they are copying the politically based talk show pundits who yell out their 3 bullet pointed "facts" insisting that they are right and the other side is wrong. Take a quote from Beth Moore to deflate your sails folks (myself included), "Jesus does not come to take sides. Jesus comes to take over." Well said.

I hate to lose an argument, and I love to make a good point, but I do not find true contentment in being right. Being right is not mine to be. Being humble is mine to be. Being right is God's to be. I do not find peace in coming to a conclusion that intellectually satisfies my pondering mind. I am a human being. He. is. God. IT IS NOT MINE TO KNOW.

So what satisfies? What brings contentment?

If you watch someone who has suffered a grievous loss and then grieves successfully (I'm not even sure what that means) it is not because they've found an answer to or a purpose for their loss. There is no good answer for small children who are orphans. There is no good purpose, that suffices our reasoning, for young widows to lose their husbands. The only peace that a crushed and devastated sojourner on this earth can drink is Jesus, not answers.

I have questions. I've lost people that didn't belong to me in the first place. They were and are God's. But where are they now? The questions could keep me agitated and worried for the rest of my life. But the peace wouldn't be in the answers. The peace comes from Jesus. When I'm really hurting, when I'm really confused, when I'm really desperate, no answer will suffice. The loving arms of the One who loves me more than any other is the only thing that brings peace.

Are you looking for answers today? The answer is Jesus. Let Him be enough. He already is.