When You Have Hard Questions for God

Do you have hard questions for God today? I’m thinking that you probably do, somewhere deep in your heart. Maybe your hard questions are even on the tip of your tongue.

Today I had the privilege of joining the bi-monthly staff Zoom meeting for Proverbs 31 Ministries, since I’m on the team of devotional writers. Here’s one screen of the 50+ people in the meeting:

Lysa TerKeurst led the devotion, in which she referred to a 2015 article in the New York Times titled “Googling for God.” The top questions related to God that Americans search for online each month include:

1. Who created God?
2. Why does God allow suffering?
3. Why does God hate me?
4. Why does God want us to worship him?
5. Why doesn’t God answer my prayers?
6. Why does God not show himself?

These are deep questions, often circling around heartache and frustration. Maybe these questions have swirled around in your mind and heart, but have been too afraid to ask them. Perhaps you’ve wondered if you ask God questions like these, will he answer you in a way you don’t like, or worse, will he not answer at all?

Your Hard Questions for God

I have encouragement for you in this season of tough questions like these:

1. Why did the virus have to spread worldwide?
2. Why did my loved one get sick?
3. Why did this have to ruin my planned celebration?
4. Why is our culture so upside-down?
5. Why are the confirmed cases rising again?
6. When will life return to normal?

When you have questions like these, you want a caring person to listen to you. Think about the time you felt most listened to by a friend or family member. Did you doubt their concern for you while you were sharing your heart? I hope you felt accepted, affirmed and loved when you opened up to them.

I remember times when my friends comforted, encouraged and cared for me while I asked hard questions. Sometimes, I knew they couldn’t answer the question I was stating. But I felt better simply for saying it out loud. In fact, I couldn’t heal until I voiced my heartache and frustration to at least one trusted, godly friend (or counselor) rather than keeping it locked inside.

A picture that’s been stuck in my mind lately is of Lieutenant Dan from the movie Forrest Gump. He lost both of his legs in a fierce battle in Vietnam, from which Forrest rescued him. Bitter over his many losses, he sat miserably in his wheelchair, bound up tight with anger, heartache and frustration. When he joined Forrest on his shrimp boat, Lt. Dan finally let those feelings go. At the top of a ship’s mast in a wild storm, Lt. Dan screamed at God. Yet once the storm calmed, Lt. Dan was finally at peace with both God and himself.

Taking Your Hard Questions to God

God is willing to listen to your hardest questions. Whether you whisper or scream them, he’s not afraid for you to ask them. In fact, I believe God craves your gut-level questions. He’s the only one big enough and wise enough to handle them. Like Lt. Dan, you’ll probably feel much better after letting them out.

Friend, keep this important truth in mind when you present your questions to God:

And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place.
Hebrews 10:19-20 NLT

You can approach the heavenly throne of God in prayer BOLDLY, asking whatever you like. But this is only possible because Jesus paid the entry fee with his innocent death. Never forget that Jesus’ sacrifice makes a relationship with God possible.

Trusting God With Your Hard Questions

When I keep this fact in mind as I approach God’s throne in prayer, I am filled with awe and wonder. My questions are still pressing, yes. I need to voice them to find the peace I’m seeking. However, as I consider Jesus’ sacrifice for me, I always surrender to his will because he knows what’s best for me. I state my question, and then I rest in his comforting presence. I say, “Not my will be done, but yours, Father.” Then I can return to my daily life with peace until the next pressing question needs releasing.

Your pressing questions for God can lead you into deeper relationship with him. If you ask them with a willingness to trust him more on the other side of that question, with the belief he’s got the best in mind for you, the Prince of Peace will seek you out. He will wrap you in his embrace and hold you while your heartache and frustration pour out. On the other side of your hard question, your Heavenly Father waits for you with a love greater than any other you’ve known.

Prayer

Heavenly Father,
I praise you as the One Who Knows All.
Nothing is hidden from you.
In your majesty and transcendence, you hold all the answers.
None of my hard questions drive you away from me.
I confess I have been reluctant to ask you these hard questions, Lord.
I may not like what you have to say, and I worry that you won’t respond.
Today I trust you to answer in ways that are for my good.
If you withhold or postpone answers, I trust that you are good.
If you give me answers I didn’t expect, I still trust that you are good.
What’s more important than the answers is my connection with you.
Deepen and strengthen my relationship with you, Jesus.
Thank you for making my approach to the throne possible
through the shedding of your blood on the cross, and your resurrection power.
Help me recognize the working of the Holy Spirit in my life.
I surrender my heartache and frustration to you now.
I thank you in advance for the answers you are preparing to reveal.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen.

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