A faith that questions

The Scriptures are full of questions -- by one count, more than 2,500 of them. The first is posed by the serpent in the garden of Eden, "Did God say, 'You shall not eat from any tree in the garden?'" (Gn 3:1). The last is mournfully cried out by seafarers in the mystical vision of the fall of Babylon recounted in the Book of Revelation, "What city was like the great city?" (Rv 18:18). The hundreds of questions in between are as challenging and relevant to us as they were to the original inquirers. That is because our deepest questions do not arise in our minds, but in our hearts.

Salvation history can be told through the questions that appear in Scripture.

-- In the garden, God asked, "Where are you" (Gn 3:9)?
-- Cain snarled, "Am I my brother's keeper" (Gn 4:9)?
-- Abraham questioned, "O Lord God, how am I to know that I shall possess it" (Gn 15:8)?
-- Isaac observed, "The fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering" (Gn 22:7)?
-- Moses wondered, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the people out of Egypt" (Ex 3:11)?
-- Samuel asked, "Are all your sons here" (1 Sm 16:11)?
-- David pleaded, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me" (Ps 22:1)?
-- God inquired, "Where were you, when I laid the foundation of the earth" (Jb 38:4)?
-- God prodded, "What are you doing here, Elijah" (1 Kgs 19:9)?
-- Mary of Nazareth asked, "How can this be since I am a virgin" (Lk 1:34)?
-- The messengers sent by John the Baptist asked, "Are you the one to come, or are we to wait for another" (Mt 11:3)?
-- Jesus questioned, "Can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life" (Mt 6:27)?
-- A demon blurted out, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God" (Mk 5:7)?
-- The Samaritan Woman inquired, "Where do you get that living water" (Jn 4:11)?
-- Nicodemus asked, "How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born" (Jn 3:4)?
-- A lawyer asked, "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life" (Lk 10:25)?
-- Jesus asked, "What do you want me to do for you" (Mk 10:51)?
-- The twelve asked, "Who is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him" (Mk 4:41)?
-- The Jews questioned, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat" (Jn 6:52)?
-- Thomas asked, "How can we know the way" (Jn 14:5)?
-- Mary of Bethany objected, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself" (Lk 10:40)?
-- Simon Peter questioned, "Lord, to whom can we go" (Jn 6:68)?
-- Jesus whispered, ""Judas, is it with a kiss that you are betraying the Son of Man" (Lk 22:48)?
-- The chief priests and scribes shouted, "Are you then the son of God" (Lk 22:70)?
-- Pilate probed, "Are you the King of the Jews" (Lk 23:3)? Then pondered, "What is truth" (Jn 18:38)?
-- Angels questioned, "Why do you seek the living among the dead" (Lk 24:5)?
-- Two disillusioned disciples wondered, "Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days" (Lk 24:18)?
-- Jesus inquired, "Simon son of John, do you love me more than these" (Jn 21:15)?
-- A voice asked, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me" (Acts 9:4)?
-- Paul of Tarsus marveled, "If God is for us, who is against us" (Rom 8:31)?
-- "Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals" (Rv 5:2)?

God is not afraid of our questions, but sometimes we are. While they may not always be expressed plainly, the questions that occupy our hearts are often what drive us forward or hold us back. Still, the questions that burn inside us do not necessarily indicate unbelief or undermine our faith. To the contrary, the questions we keep coming back to can guide us along the path that brings us to the threshold of a faith that is not only authentic, but life changing.

If we're too concerned with having the answers, we may well underestimate the transformative power that contemplating the questions offers us.