I always thought it was like really bad to question God. Like, questioning God = do not pass go, do not collect $200.00, do…not…do….it. Superficial readings of Job 38 were largely the reason, as well as a superficial view of Christianity that you should just smile, nod, and keep on going when you don’t fully understand something. Except “superficial and God” and “superficial and Christianity” don’t really work, at least not well. His well is too deep to contentedly skim the surface. He doesn’t want me to fake it, He values sincerity over performance. Sometimes, I sincerely have questions.
In chapter 38, God speaks to Job out of the storm. We don’t know how He speaks to him, is His voice thunderous or a whisper? I used to think that, after experiencing intense, unfathomable loss and heartache, and having a bout of ‘why, me, God?!’ that this is where God way-lays Job with snarkiness and sarcasm. Job 38 and Job 39 could be summed up with “Job, you clearly forgot who I am, and who you are and, well, as a human being, you suck.” But the more I meditate on God’s character, that just doesn’t fit, that doesn’t mesh. Oh, I don’t doubt that God is serious. But I just can’t think that God is a jerk here.
So, are Christians green lighted to question God? Its not the desire to inquire that is a problem. It is the motive before the question and the motivation once we receive the answers. Questions that result from a desire to know God better? He loves those. I really like how Liz Curtis Higgs of “Bad Girls of the Bible and What We Can Learn From Them” puts it: its not the questions that hurt Him, but our poor choices. She has a wonderful chapter dedicated to the woman at the well and writes poignantly on the patience Jesus shows for her numerous questions. (Check it out, John 4, this woman and Jesus have a lengthy conversation whereby she asks him a lot). She writes:
“The Samaritan woman wasn’t shy about pressing for answers and didn’t hesitate to ask for clarification. Sometimes we’re afraid to wade into theological waters with someone more knowledgeable than we are for fear we’ll ask the wrong questions or appear foolish. Take the risk. Find out what you need to know. If the Lord has provided a teacher, be a willing student” (102-103).
And, in Romans 12:2, we are told that following the renewing of our mind, we are better equipped to test and approve God’s will. You want me to test God’s will? Because, you know, that involves some questioning.
Back to Job 38. How interesting that I used to read this and think that I should not question God, when He spends the next two chapters with intense questioning, and I am made in God’s image. Granted, these are largely rhetorical questions, but again, I just don’t think God is amping up the sarcasm to make a fool of Job. I mean, what would be the point of that? He restores his wealth, family, happiness, at the end of the book. God isn’t a mere human where he thinks “let me toy with Job for a minute before I hook him back up.” I propose God appears, through the storm, as a loving Father figure, and His questions, while certainly stern at times, are meant to renew Job’s mind. Job, like all of us, needed help with his perspective. Job just needed a little discipling. God showed up to d-time.
In these two chapters, It’s through His questions, as opposed to His answers, that we, along with Job, are reminded of the awesomeness of Who we worship.
Note: Bad Girls of the Bible and What We Can Learn From Them. Liz Curtis Higgs. Waterbrook Press. 1999.
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