Unanswered Questions

It amazes me how important it is that we all tend to insist on having answers to every question we have about God and the Bible. Recently, somebody asked me what I believe about a particular topic. "Well," I answered, "To be honest, I don't have a dogmatic answer to that. I tend to think such-and-such is the case, but I'm not sure."

With that response from me, the other person began to try to educate me by proving to me why his viewpoint was the right one. "I understand what you're saying," I continued, "but the Bible also says other things that would contradict your position. I don't think any of us can be absolutely sure about the answer to this."

"But don't you think God wants us to know truth?" he asked. "God doesn't hide truth from us. Truth can be known!" "Not all truth," I responded. "I don't think God wants us to have full knowledge of every truth. I think some things are intended to be left a mystery to us, at least for now."

My Christian brother couldn't have disagreed more - at least not about this topic. He believes that if we dig deeply enough and study hard enough, we can come to satisfactory answers about the things we want to know. I understand where he is coming from because I've lived that way for many years of my life too.

I've seen a shift in my attitude as I grow older. I still have unanswered questions and am, in fact, finding more and more questions as time goes by. But I don't have a driving need to come up with an answer for every question I have.

Let me be clear about something: I don't believe the Bible contradicts itself. Now ... having said that, I'll say this: The Bible does seem to say two different things about some subjects. In fact, the Scripture is filled with paradoxes (two equally true statements which appear to be in contradiction to each other).

That's why there are so many denominations and so many varying viewpoints among Christians throughout church history. Sincere, Bible-believing Christians who all have a strong love for Christ and for God's Word simply come to different conclusions.

I believe that our insistence on having definitive answers about every subject often comes from a hidden, fleshly desire to be in control. If we can understand how God works, then we can manage Him. To discover on every issue, "If I do this, God will do that," gives us the upper hand because once we've learned the system, we can get Him to do anything we want just by pushing the right button.

But it doesn't work that way. God is transcendent. He is "totally other" and doesn't react to us like one of Pavlov's dogs. From the human perspective, God is "a wild man," who is often unpredictable and even appears volatile at times.

I love the section from The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe where Lucy asks Mr. and Mrs. Beaver about Aslan (Christ). They ask if Aslan is a man. Mr. Beaver replies:

"Aslan a man? Certainly not. I tell you he is the King of the wood and the son of the great Emperor-beyond-the Sea. Don't you know who is the King of Beasts? Aslan is a lion- The Lion, The Great Lion."

"Ooh!" said Susan. "I'd thought he was a man. Is he--quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion."

"That you will, dearie, and make no mistake," said Mrs. Beaver, "if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly."

"Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy.

"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver. "Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about being safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."

Like Lucy, we all want a god we understand and can predict, but it just isn't going to happen.

Awhile ago I was grappling with something that was troubling me in my own circumstances. I felt like God had let me down. I couldn't understand and was pressing Him for an answer. You may doubt this claim, but I distinctly heard a response in my mind that I believe was Him. Words came to me - words that didn't fit where I was in my own attitude and thoughts at the moment. I'm convinced it was the voice of my Father. What He said was this:

"I'm not a puzzle to be solved, but a mystery to be explored."

I got it. Don't you? We desperately want to have answers. We want to understand it all -- everything in the Bible, in our lives, in the world around us. But it's just not going to happen. Not in this life.

So we'd might as well relax and learn to trust Him. We can complete this ride called "life" the easy way or the hard way. It's our choice. Jesus did say His way was easy (and His yoke light).

I still get frustrated with Him sometimes, but I'm learning. Slowly but surely, I'm realizing more and more that some answers won't be clear as long as I'm looking through this "glass darkly." I will know what He wants me to know and, for now, that will have to be alright.