Questions Bring Clarity

I was recently reminded that wise people know how to ask good questions. If I ask dumb questions, I usually receive dumb answers. I’ve always been intrigued with “lawyer shows” on TV and the big screen. One of the main roles of an excellent attorney is the asking of good questions.

As I was reading through the book of Job, the Lord finally speaks. Job has lost his family, his possessions and his health, but he still did not curse God. Throughout the previous chapters I could feel the pain he was in and the intensity of the suffering. Three “friends lecture him” and then this young man named Elihu poured it on too. He has got to be at the breaking point when God finally speaks. Check this out…

1 Then the Lord spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:

2 “Who is this that obscures my plans

    with words without knowledge?

3 Brace yourself like a man;

    I will question you,

    and you shall answer me.

36 Who gives the ibis wisdom

    or gives the rooster understanding?

37 Who has the wisdom to count the clouds?

    Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens

38 when the dust becomes hard

    and the clods of earth stick together?

39 “Do you hunt the prey for the lioness

    and satisfy the hunger of the lions

40 when they crouch in their dens

    or lie in wait in a thicket?

41 Who provides food for the raven

    when its young cry out to God

    and wander about for lack of food? (Job 38:1-3, 36-41 NIV)

As I began reading through the questions that God was presenting to Job, I realized again how questions can teach and reveal great truth. God was asking Job questions that only He knew the answers too. The Lord’s questions gave Job great insight to His role in all creation and also the everyday and even what often appears mundane. God’s questions had to start bringing great clarity to Job as God had been silent through Job’s suffering, but He had not been absent.

I want to ponder the questions of God today. I want to have great clarity regarding His Power and His Presence in my every day life today. I sometimes need Him to ask questions in order to retrieve clarity that has been muddled and distraction has set in.

Pressing On!

Dwayne