Questions

“The clay doesn’t ask, ‘Why did you make me this way?’”  Isaiah 45:9 CEV

Uncertainty creates insecurity; God is the answer to both.

My thoughts and comments today are about “questions.”

Questions! You will have so many of them. Why so many? The answer is simple really; there is so much that you cannot know and do not yet understand. Your knowledge is incomplete; your understanding is imperfect; your experience is limited. Much of life is lived in the arena of “things not yet known,” not things unknowable, just unknown now but not unknown to God. You might as well get used to that. That can be bewildering, unsettling even. Uncertainty creates insecurity, and people wrongly assume that having answers makes one secure. Security is knowing the answers you lack will be provided when most needed.

In previous generations, every day vessels were formed of common clay in the hands of a potter. Isaiah, an Old Testament prophet, compares our insistent questions with the ludicrous example of a clay pot demanding explanation from its maker. Isaiah concluded, “You have no right to argue with your Creator. You are merely a clay pot shaped by a potter. The clay doesn’t ask, ‘Why did you make me this way? Where are the handles?’” Isaiah 45:9 CEV. “A clay pot shaped by a potter,” not a very flattering picture. Such a presumptuous exchange with one’s Creator is not as rare as may first appear.

Life is simpler when realizing you are His creation rather than creator. We are often bewildered by life and demand God account for His actions, or presumed inaction. When you have questions; God is your answer. “ We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us. As it is, there’s not much chance of that . . we’re not sure what to do, but we know that God knows what to do. 2 Corinthians 4:7-9 MSG. God is neither insensitive to your pain nor takes pleasure in your suffering. Paul describes our human situation at times as, “. . hard pressed, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.” The content within matters eternally, not your circumstance or confusion now. “Christ in you, the hope of glory!” Colossians 1:27 NKJV.

Certainty and security is restored when you rest your questions upon unhesitating trust in God’s wisdom, unrivaled power, and righteous character. There is much you do not yet know, but there is so much more you can and do know. “We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompleteness will be canceled . . 12 We don’t yet see things clearly . . We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! 13 But for right now, until that completeness . . Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love. 1 Corinthians 13:9-13 MSG. You may know only a “portion of the truth,” but that is enough truth to save and keep you now and forever.

My prayer for you today is that you release the unknown to God who is omniscient.