GOD WANTS US TO ASK HIM OUR WHY QUESTIONS

It is the “why” questions that make us lose faith, right? 

• Why is God not answering?
• Why is God allowing this?
• Why is this happening to me?

We desperately want answers to these questions, but we are afraid to ask. Would you believe it if I told you that God actually wants us to come to Him with our why questions?

IS IT WRONG TO QUESTION GOD?

Is it okay to ask God our why questions? And if so, how do we ask those questions? Whether we admit it or not, we want to know. When God takes us on a wilderness experience, we wonder, we guess, we surmise.

• Did I do something wrong? 
• Is God punishing me? 
• Do I lack faith?

Then we panic. Panic turns to desperation, leading us down a scary path of shaking our fists at God and demanding answers like Job.

Maybe you have been there. Maybe you’re on your way. Maybe you are too ashamed to admit that you are in that place right now.

I’m here to reassure you that asking questions is okay.

IT IS HUMAN TO ASK WHY DID GOD LET THIS HAPPEN?

If you as a parent, grandparent, relative, or teacher have been around preschoolers lately, it does not take long to figure out that a child’s favorite question at that young age is why…followed by several more! A simple conversation can go something like this:

Child: Why do I have to go to the store?

Parent: Because we need to buy food to eat.

Child: But why?

Parent: Because our bodies need food to live.

Child: But why?

Parent: Because God designed them that way.

Child: But why?

Parent: Because he is God and can do what he wants.

Okay, so maybe if you have more patience than I do, your conversation looks a little different, but it is innate in all of us (from the time we learn to talk) to ask why. Satan tempted Adam and Eve in the garden with a why question and people have been inquiring about God ever since that time.

So it is normal and natural to ask why. Questioning and reasoning are part of the human experience.

But asking why when we are weary from not hearing God’s voice, weak from heartache and brokenness, and worry from wondering is a completely different story.

These are the why questions that threaten our faith in who God is and what He will do.

Why? 😉

THE WAYS WE QUESTION GOD

The ways we question God when we are hurting are more powerful and poignant because we are desperate and distraught. Satan likes to take advantage of us with questions that make us doubt God’s presence and faithfulness in our broken and weary condition.    

• Why doesn’t God provide for my needs?
• Why doesn’t God recognize or reward me for what I have done?
• Why doesn’t God rescue me from this pain?

These are common questions as we wander in the barren desert, searching for an oasis to give us hope.

WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS ABOUT QUESTIONING GOD

PEOPLE IN THE BIBLE WHO QUESTIONED GOD

If you are struggling with questioning God, you only need to look to the Bible to know that you are in good company! The Bible is full of heroes of the faith who earnestly brought their questions to God, sometimes demanding answers.

• Moses asked, “Why have you dealt ill with your servant?” Numbers 11:11
• Elijah cried out to the Lord, “Why have you brought tragedy to the this widow who has opened her home to me?” 1 Kings 17:20
• David asked, “Oh Lord why do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?” Psalm 10:1
• Habbakuk asked, “Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?” Habbakuk 1:3
• Job asked, “Why have you made me your target?” Job 7:20
• The disciples asked, “Why was this man born blind?” John 9:2
• Jesus on the cross asked God “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46

Even Jesus, as He sacrificed Himself on the cross, cried out in anguish with a question.

DAVID ASKS GOD HIS WHY QUESTIONS

King David, who was no stranger to times of doubt and despair, pours out his heart to God in many of the Psalms with the very same questions. We can learn so much from his example of how to ask the why questions that torment us.

In Psalm 13, we find David in one of the deepest, darkest pits of his life. Completely alone and hiding in a cave from a madman named Saul who wants to take his life, David feels abandoned by God. At least that is how he describes his desperate condition at the beginning of his lament:

O Lord, how long will you forget me? Forever?

    How long will you look the other way?

How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul,

    with sorrow in my heart every day?

    How long will my enemy have the upper hand?

Psalm 13:1-2 (NLT)

I don’t know about you, but I can relate to these questions! They resonate so strongly that I feel them deep in my soul.

No matter where you are in your faith journey…whether you have been walking with God for years or have just reconnected with Him…it is possible to reach such a low point that we can no longer feel God’s presence.  

While we may not be cowering in a cave fearing for our lives like David, we can encounter similar difficulties. Here are some examples of how painful experiences in our lives can cause us to question God:

• An illness or surgery can cause us to question God’s purpose and plan for our future.
• An unexpected job loss can lead us to questioning whether God will provide for our needs.
• Depression or anxiety can make us question God’s care and love for us.
• Marriage and family difficulties can cause us to question whether God sees and knows what is happenning to us.

So, if asking why is not the problem, what is? If David ended his Psalm there, he would spiral down to the miry pit and stay stuck. But thankfully, David does not do this. Yes, he is real and raw in asking God the hard why questions. He does not hide his feelings of abandonment and hopelessness. David doubts God’s provision, God’s plan, and God’s presence, but then…

DAVID CRIES OUT TO GOD IN HIS QUESTIONING

David does something few of us think to do when we feel so utterly lost and alone: He looks up and cries out:

Turn and answer me, O Lord my God!

    Restore the sparkle to my eyes, or I will die.

Don’t let my enemies gloat, saying, “We have defeated him!”

    Don’t let them rejoice at my downfall.

Psalm 13:3-4 (NLT)

He pleads with God. Begging God to:

• Look at me, please!
• Answer me, please!
• Restore me, please!

Even at one of his darkest moments, David knows God is the only one to whom He can turn. Instead of keeping his questions from God, He pours them out with honesty and vulnerability. He trusts God to handle his questioning.

Have you come to that realization? Have you cried out to God? It is the perfect place for us to start when we have questions. Why? Because only God has the answers we seek.

DAVID’S QUESTIONING RENEWS HIS TRUST IN GOD

We cannot gloss over the last two verses of this Psalm because the ending is the best part.  David asks his questions, pleads with God to respond, and then lifts his head. And in that movement, God assures David of his presence and power in such a real way that David can sing.

Questions turn to praises.

Doubting to singing.

Sadness to joy.

But I trust in your unfailing love.

    I will rejoice because you have rescued me.

 I will sing to the Lord

    because he is good to me.

Psalm 13:5-6 (NLT)

When David ends this psalm, we assume he is still hiding in the wilderness, so how does David get from “Lord, you’ve abandoned me” to “Lord, you are good to me” despite his unchanged circumstances?

He starts with a question…several questions, in fact. Real, raw, and heartfelt questions. But David doesn’t stop there. And neither should we. We need to follow the process by moving from questioning to praising. 

3 WAYS WE CAN REACH OUT TO GOD WITH OUR QUESTIONS

The Bible shows us that not only is it okay to cry out to God with our questions but that God longs for us to do so. While we may want to seek other people and sources to answer the questions that plague us, God wants us to seek Him first. God knows that even in a place of doubt and disbelief if we bring our questions to Him, He can do for us what He did for David and many other heroes of the faith.

If we can now feel confident crying out to God with our why questions, we need to move on to how we ask God our why questions.

Using David’s example, there are three things we can do as we approach God with our why questions.

W – WALK TOWARD GOD WITH YOUR QUESTIONS

It is easy to run away like Elijah (see 1 Kings 19) when our why questions overwhelm us. Maybe we are afraid of facing God or are not sure we want to hear His answers. However, one of the reasons God may place us in situations where we question Him is so that we can walk toward Him and find comfort and healing. Even when a child does not understand the answer a parent gives, he can still rest in the love and protection that the parent provides. God wants us to seek Him without fear for answers to our questions.

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking.

James 1:5 (NLT)

H – HOLD OUT HOPE FOR GOD’S ANSWERS

When we do not hear God’s voice or wonder whether He even hears our cries for help, we can lose hope. Many times I meet with people who are frustrated by not hearing from God. My first question to them is always: Where are you looking? If we are hoping to find answers to our questions by reading self-help books, listening to podcasts, watching sermons online, or asking friends or family, we will often be disappointed. The only place to find God’s answers is in the Bible. It really is that simple. God speaks to us through His Word. Open it daily and ask God, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to give you the answers you are seeking.

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.

Matthew 7:7 (NIV)

Y – YIELD TO GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY

When we walk toward God, genuinely seeking His answers to our questions, we must then yield control to His purpose and plan. And this is not easy! When we yield our desired outcomes to God’s sovereignty, He can shift our why questions into what or how questions. So, instead of asking:

• Why me? We ask: Why not me?
• Why this way? We ask: How is this part of my story?
• Why am I suffering? We ask: What good can come from this?

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.

    “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.

For just as the heavens are higher than the earth,

    so my ways are higher than your ways

    and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.

Isaiah 55:8-9 (NLT)

GOD WANTS US TO COME TO HIM WITH OUR QUESTIONS

Yes, God wants us to come to Him with our questions, and there are many benefits when we do so.

However, I feel I would be committing some kind of spiritual malpractice if I left you with the idea that all of our questions will be answered when we want and in the way that we want. The Bible never promises that to us.

In fact, on this side of eternity, many of our questions will never be answered. However, that should not stop us from crying out to our heavenly Father with the anguish in our souls. For those who know Jesus and have put their hope in Him, we have the assurance of one day seeing everything with perfect clarity…even our toughest questions.

Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

1 Corinthians 13:12 (NLT)

THIS IS A SAFE PLACE TO ASK YOUR QUESTIONS

Dear friend, if you are questioning God on your faith journey, I want to be the one to let you know that it is okay to do so! I know what it feels like to cry out to God and ask Him why. It is one of the reasons why I started writing this blog.

At the Crossroads is a community where you can meet others for hope and encouragement and where it is more than acceptable to ask questions, ask for guidance, or ask for help.

Let me encourage you today by sending you to check out my FREE FAITH PRINTABLES page to find guides on prayer, soul care, and spiritual breakthroughs. And if you are stuck on your faith journey and don’t know how to take the next right step, check out my START HERE page for free resources, support, and encouragement. Sign up by filling out the form below, and you will receive weekly blog posts, monthly newsletters, and access to over ten printables in my Faith Resource Library.