Sermon Central
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Is It Ok To Ask God Why? Series
Contributed by Brad Stone on Jun 8, 2024 (message contributor)
Summary: This sermon dives into the question of whether or not it is ok to ask God why. We all have those moments where we want to but are often told we cannot. In this message, I uncover biblical truths to answer this question.
Biblical Answers to Life’s Tough Questions: Is it Ok to Ask God Why?
Questions and emotions aren't bad.
No, it's not wrong to ask God questions. Job and David and even Jesus asked God why they were suffering or felt like they had been abandoned by God. And yet God loved those men very much.
He called Job "righteous" (Job 1:8) and David "a man after His own heart" (1 Samuel 13:14) and Jesus His "beloved son with whom He was well pleased" (Matthew 3:17). He didn't always answer their questions, but He did let them know He was God, He was in control and He understood things they could not.
It's also not wrong to experience grief or anger or any other emotion when we're going through a hard time. Human emotions are natural. Healthy. Even Jesus experienced grief and got angry.
It's okay to ask God our questions. It's okay to tell God how we're feeling, He already knows anyway, and He wants to be included. But eventually we have to surrender to what God wants to teach us.
I have ask God why many times. When someone receives bad diagnosis after diagnosis, I continually asked God, "Why?"
"Why my child? Why both of my children? Why me? Why don't you heal them? Why are kids born with illnesses or disabilities? Why did you not heal this person? Why do you feel so far away?"
After months and months of pleading these questions and God not giving me an answer, I experienced a crisis of faith that scared me. Was God a good God? Was God even real? If He was, surely He'd be answering my questions and my prayers, right?
I. When do we ask why?
We want to live the blessed "abundant life" (John 10:10b) that Jesus said He was bringing, and we forget that He also told us that "In the world ye shall have tribulation:" John 16:33.
We ask why when hard times come.
We ask why when things don’t go the way we wished they had.
We ask why when we hurt.
We ask why when people leave.
We ask why when our life is a mess.
We ask why when someone is sick.
We ask why a lot, and that’s ok!
We forget that all our favorite Bible characters had their share of struggles and grief and hard circumstances. Sometimes they experienced struggles for decades before they saw God's plan come to pass in their life.
I went searching through Scripture and found that I wasn't the only one who asked God "why?":
- Moses asked, “And Moses said unto the LORD, Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? and wherefore have I not found favour in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me?” Numbers 11:11
- David asked, “Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?” Psalm 10:1
- Habbakuk asked, “Why dost thou shew me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention.” Habbakuk 1:3
- Job asked, “...why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself?” Job 7:20
- The disciples asked, “And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?” John 9:2 - in other words, why was this man born blind?
- Jesus on the cross asked God "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46
- Maschil ask “(Maschil of Asaph.) O God, why hast thou cast us off for ever? why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture?” Psalm 74:1
There are many other instances in the bible where the question ‘Why’ has been posed to God - asking why His countenance was turned, why He was angry, why He had turned his face against His people, Why He didn’t deliver.
What I’m trying to show you is that you aren’t the first person to ask why, and you certainly will not be the last.
II. What does God do when we ask why?
A. Sometimes, He responds.
I want you to look with me for a moment in Job 38.
Job had ask God ‘Why’, and God responded. Now I realize this isn’t the answer perhaps Job was searching for, but God basically told Job to straighten up - who do you think you are.
Job quickly realized the error of his ways - not that he questioned God, but that He blamed God and essentially told God He had made a mistake in even creating him. We know though through this lesson that God heard Job & took time to respond to him.
