God Asks Revealing Questions

He leads me …

Why does God ask questions if He is omniscient – that is, He knows everything? After all, if He knows everything He does not need to ask questions because He already has the answer. However, it goes deeper than just the question. Let us look at a couple of examples.

In the Garden of Eden, God asks Adam where he is and what he had done (Genesis 3:9-11). In the wilderness, He asks Moses what is in his hand (Exodus 4:2). As we now know, God already knew the answers to these questions. “He knows the secrets of the heart” (Psalm 44:21). So what was the point of asking these questions?

The questions God asks always go beyond an obvious answer. What the Lord asks is meant to see what is really on the heart of the person who He is addressing.

Where are you?

In Genesis 3:8-12 we read that after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit they were afraid of God, so they hid from Him. The Lord called out, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9), but He knew exactly where they were. Why? So as to gently draw Adam out of hiding. God did not confront Adam in anger, with severe words of criticism or judgment. Instead, God probed Adam with a question that opened up the conversation to allow for the Lord’s grace, gentleness, and His desire for reconciliation.

 To illustrate, we know that when teaching a young student basic arithmetic, the teacher will ask, ‘What is 2 + 2?’ The teacher already knows the answer, but they want to know what the student is thinking the answer is. When God asked Adam, “Where are you?” He wanted to know why Adam and Eve felt that they had to hide from Him. The answer was that both Adam and Eve had done what God had clearly told them not to do. They had sinned and were now afraid of the consequences.

 This is a question that God has also asked all mankind since the time of Adam and Eve. People have continued to run and hide from God, yet God has always worked to encourage the lost into a relationship with Him. Do we ever wonder how we would respond if God asked us, 'Where are you at?' Are we trying to hide anything from God? What is the point? It is much better that we own up to what we are trying to hide and ask Him to help us fix the problem. This is what a proper relationship is all about.

What is that in your hand?

At the end of Exodus chapter 3 we read that God called to Moses from a burning bush in the wilderness requesting that he bring the Israelites out of Egypt. Then in chapter 4:1-5 the Bible reads that Moses said, "What if they won’t believe me or listen to me? What if they say, ‘The Lord never appeared to you’?”

Then the Lord asked him, “What is that in your hand?”

“A shepherd’s staff,” Moses replied.

“Throw it down on the ground,” the Lord told him. So Moses threw down the staff, and it turned into a snake! Moses jumped back.

Then the Lord told him, “Reach out and grab its tail.” So Moses reached out and grabbed it, and it turned back into a shepherd’s staff in his hand.

“Perform this sign,” the Lord told him. “Then they will believe that the Lord, the God of their ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—really has appeared to you." (NLT)

When Moses threw the staff on to the ground God performed the miracle of turning it into a serpent. By doing this, Moses could see that only the Lord could do anything miraculous, not Moses. God could use whatever Moses had, provided Moses remained humble and allowed Him to do whatever He needed to.

God can ask us to do something that appears impossible. When we provide excuses He might ask us, 'What is that in your hand believer?' What do you have to offer? We think that we basically have nothing. But God is always continually reminds us that it is not our ability but our availability that He is looking for.

Even if we feel we have almost nothing to present to God that is just how He wants it. He will use our small amount (think of the loaves and fishes) so that the glory belongs to Him. 

During our Christian journey we will come to a cross roads where it is not clear what we should do next. It is during times like this that we can sometimes feel the Lord prompting us with questions like –

•           Why does that bother you so much?

•           Why are you afraid?

•           What counsel would you give others if they were experiencing what you are?

It is questions like these that help us to really address what is actually going on and from that point the solution often becomes clear.

God is a Father who uses questions to teach us as part of our mutual relationship. He is a Teacher who uses the questioning technique to involve us, His students, in making us think, and pointing us to the truth. When He asks a question, it’s not because He doesn’t know the answer but because He wants us to see what is really happening and then what to do from there.

There are things like forgiving others that the Lord really wants us to get right. We might not like the thought of what we are required to do. However, if we look to the Lord to be with us as we start taking action, we will find that when we do what we need to, the outcome will be really rewarding, and we will have grown personally too.

Dear Reader – If you have found some value in this blog, please feel free to send a copy on to your family and friends. Kind regards, John