“None of these things move me.” Acts 20:24
“Having no questions is not particularly spiritual; having no doubt is.”
My thoughts today are about having “questions, but no doubts.”
Life presents a lot of questions to any honest heart. So many things don’t make sense with your limited perspective and imperfect knowledge. A lot of things make you want to ask why. Questions come to everyone at one time or another. If you have never asked why, then you just have not lived long enough or faced anything tough enough. You may have felt guilty, swallowing your questions rather than asking them. But God is not nervous about your questions.
Questions play a vital role in learning. Questions push you beyond the known and understood to what has not been considered previously. Great discoveries and technology advances have happened because someone asked questions no one else bothered to ask. A person does not have faith because they have no questions. If you have no question, you don’t need faith. Faith looks at the hardest questions and though without answers, simply trusts God’s love and wisdom.
Having no questions is not particularly spiritual; having no doubt is. You can be without doubts while wrestling with the toughest questions, maybe even unanswerable ones. Paul did not say that was easy to do, but he does show that it is possible to do. Read the context of today’s verse. Paul knew what he was facing ahead of him, “jail and suffering.” Acts 20:22-23 NKJV/21:10-14 NIV. That would raise some questions for any thinking person. I would think he would have questions about that. I would; you would.
When you are uncertain and questions trouble your mind and rob your peace, concentrate on what is certain and unchanging and rest your questions there. When there seems too much that you do not know, be more sure of what you do know. Paul wrote, “Now we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when that which is complete comes, what is partial will be done away . . now I know partially, then I will know fully just as I am fully known.” 1 Corinthians 13:9-13 NIV. Dwell on what you know; deal with what you don’t.
What leaves more unanswered questions than death, and resurrection? After Paul’s expansive defense of the Resurrection, he summarizes this way, “Therefore, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing your labor is not in vain in the Lord.” 1 Corinthians 15:58. Those clear character qualities – steadfast, immovable, and always abounding – are the marks of a mature Christian who has asked their questions, then chosen to move beyond their doubts to rest peacefully in God.
When you have serious questions about life, you can still live and trust with no doubts about God. “I am suffering here in prison . . but I know the One in whom I trust, and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until the day of His return.” 2 Timothy 1:12 NLT.
My prayer for you today is to submit questions to God but surrender your doubts.