Raise!Sample

Raise your questions.

During one season of life I lived with many exhausting questions, raising them to God daily. Tired of my questions, I flung open the Bible and said to the Lord, ‘I need a few answers’. I read from the book of Job which, like me, raises some pressing questions to God about his living presence in the world, pain, suffering and justice. After patiently listening, God answers him with this line: ‘Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me’ (Job 38:3 NIV).

God raises his questions to Job, and he questioned me as I sat at my desk on that afternoon. I braced myself:

• ‘Where were you when I Iaid the earth’s foundation?’
• ‘Have you ever given orders to the morning…?’
• ‘Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom…?’

God asks Job around 70 questions. I found myself answering, ‘I don’t know the answer to any of these questions!’ Faith moved me to, ‘I will trust who you are.’

Jesus raised his own question for God his Father as he hung broken on the cross: ‘Why have you forsaken me?’ The pain of this question and the suffocating darkness of this forsakenness is one we cannot penetrate. The answer to this forsakenness is the unimaginable redemptive plan for restoration and salvation of the world, you and me.

Sometimes we feel God has forsaken us. Jesus, forsaken by the Father, promised us, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you’ (Hebrews 13:5).

God welcomes our questions and so we raise them. Yet, a growing faith invites growing trust.

What do you need to bring before God today? Take some time to remember who God is and find confidence in his faithfulness.