Did you ever have so many questions that your questions had questions? That may be a bit of an exaggeration for me; long ago, as a high-achieving child, I thought the smart people weren't the ones with the questions but the ones with the answers. (In a similar vein, I had a like-minded friend who wouldn't use pencils that had erasers, because erasers were only for people who might make mistakes. O Lord, have mercy. Seriously.) But compared to spouting answers, isn't knowing what questions to ask perhaps the greater skill?
I've found that sometimes questions are just lovely in themselves. It occurs to me that some are to be pondered, some enjoyed, some even perhaps forgotten, and others pursued to answers. But not necessarily rushed to answers. How wonderful, even luxurious, is time given to think, research, pray, and "wisdom" them through, those that call to us. For example:
- Lord, what questions do You want me to ask You today?
That's kind of what I mean about questions having questions. We often hear of the importance of asking the right questions. This concept of "right questions" may be puzzling at first. What's wrong with any question we may have? Often, nothing. The encouragement that "no question is a stupid question" is valid, especially when learning something new. Yet in many circumstances, asking the right questions during a discussion or exploration can lead us to the point, instead of beside the point. It can make the difference between solving and not solving a problem. It can even reveal motive and character. Our spontaneous or formulated questions can tell on us, and reflect either well or poorly.
The Pharisees and Sadducees asked Jesus a lot of questions that were meant to trap Him. "Should we pay taxes to Caesar?" "Which commandment is the greatest?" "If a woman's husbands keep dying so that she ends up marrying an entire family of brothers, how is that going to work if there's a resurrection of the dead?" When the Scripture says in Matthew 22:43 that no one dared ask Him any more questions, it means they stopped asking Him questions designed to trip Him up, because the answers Jesus gave only exposed their scheming and made them look ignorant.
We can still ask our real questions.
Even so, some questions might be frivolous, or ones He's already answered (He might be silent on those), or might lead us away from what God would really like to say. So let's go back to the question above:
Lord, what questions do You want me to ask You today?
I've been asking it. I haven't heard a lot yet. But the realization that it could add a wonderful dimension to prayer time has quickened my spirit.
Lord, what questions do You want me to ask You today?
To me, questions are the essence of the human engagement with the creator. Not the answers, but the asking.
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