THE QUESTION
Why is it that if someone tells you there are 1 billion stars in the universe you will believe them, but if they tell you the paint on the wall is not dry, you touch it to be sure?
I’m going to ask you a question… You know, questions are a critical part of life and the learning process. You can often engage even a quiet person in conversation if you start off by asking, "May I ask you a question?" The theory of mismatching says that the majority of people will answer that most of the time by saying, "Sure." Next time you call someone or walk into someone’s office, you can try that theory out by asking him or her, "Did I catch you at a good time?"
They will respond with, "Well, not really, but go ahead." However, if you ask them, "Did I catch you at a bad time?" normally they will say, "No, go ahead. It’s not a bad time."
There are a few people however who don’t respond automatically, and if you ask, "Can I ask you a question?" they will say, "NO!" Which is why when I began a few moments ago, I didn’t ask. I just said, "I’m going to ask you a question!" I don’t care if you don’t want me to; I’m going to ask you anyway!! ;-)
Questions are used to learn. We tend to forget most of the conversations we have and things we listen to, but we remember questions that were asked for sometimes years, especially questions that penetrate deep into our thoughts and processes. Questions cause us to respond, to think; even in 1-way conversations, when you hear a question your mind responds. Questions teach us to think and enable us to connect and converse.
Ellen was telling us recently about a conversation she witnessed where 2 elderly men were talking with each other. Each of them was sitting there talking out loud; one was talking about different happenings in town, while the other was talking about something totally different. Every once in a while, they would seem to agree with each other, and then would continue talking. They were talking with each other, but not to each other. One critical question would have changed that conversation and allowed them to connect with each other. And that question is, "Can you hear me now?"
So, I’m going to ask you a question. And while you wait breathlessly for that question, I want to first talk about some questions from God.
In the third chapter of Genesis, verse 8, we find the 1st recorded question from God. I’m sure you remember the story. Adam & Eve were given the entire garden to live in and eat from, except for 1 tree. After they ate from this tree, we find them hiding in the trees of the garden, hiding from their creator. And God came down, as he did every day in the cool of day to talk with his creation. Adam and Eve heard the sound of the Lord and hid themselves.
Hiding is something we learn at an early age. I remember hiding in my Mom’s closet eating something I didn’t want everyone else to know about when I was fairly young. When I was found out, boy did I catch it! My favorite game was hide-and-go seek - at night! There was something sinister about hiding in the dark, and sometimes I wouldn’t come out - I didn’t want to be found. Sometimes we hide as children to not be caught doing something wrong. Maybe you hid, as I did, to escape from pain and emotional turmoil. We have adults today who have trouble being open and transparent, because they’ve hidden things their whole life.
If you habitually hide things in your relationships with people who love you and who trust you, and from Godly people who you are connected with for accountability, you will destroy those relationships. You cannot have a healthy connection with another being if you’re a "hider." Paul said over in First Corinthians chapter 13, that a mark of real love and maturity was putting away childish things. When you remove those things you hide behind, you have room to grow. If you don’t, you become stunted and cannot grow at all, and everyone around you knows it, even if you don’t.
This story in Genesis bears out another idea: God desires a daily relationship with you. God came down to the garden in the cool of the day. You know how things are in the cool of the day; it’s quiet, the winds have died down, the heat is gone, or the heat has not yet started. God would come down and converse with Adam and Eve.
God wants to converse with you and I also. Ps. 139 says, "How precious are your thoughts to me, O God! How vast is the sum of them." We tend to avoid God and hide - but He wants to talk. We neglect reading the Bible - but he wants to talk. We put off spending time in prayer and meditation - but he wants to talk. We’ve had a bad day, we did something we’re not proud of, we’re sick, tired, or angry - but he wants to talk. We hide behind the trees of our busyness, sorrow, heartbreak, and sin and think to ourselves, "Surely God won’t want to talk with me today. What if He finds out what I’ve done? What if He asks me about that again?" He already knows! That’s really why we hide - fear of the question! We avoid people we’ve wronged because we’re afraid of what they might ask us if they find us!
You say, "But I don’t even know who I am anymore, why would God want to spend time with me?" But He created you. Psalms 139 says, "He knit you into the womb" you were born out of, he "created your inmost being", he knows you!! He knows everything about you and I, and he asks, "Where are you?"
That’s a most important question. Has God been asking that in the gardens and paths of your life? Have you heard and seen the rustlings of His moving in the trees and forests of your circumstances? Are you hiding from Him? He asks a simple question, "Where are you?"
Now before I ask you my question, there’s another simple question recorded in the book of Mark over in the NT. Its in chapter 5, verses 24-34. Here is a woman suffering for many years. She had spent all she had, seen many doctors, suffered greatly, and was growing worse - sound like anyone you know? She heard about this Jesus who could change things for people like her, and she went to where he was coming through.
Now I want you to picture this. The only equivalent picture in today’s culture is of a famous person who is followed by hundreds of people as he walks into a building. There are hundreds of reporters, photographers and thousands of fans waiting for his limousines to arrive. He arrives with a huge crowd of his own, and as the two crowds merge and he pushes his way thru the crowd, people are reaching over each other to touch him, pat him on the back, poke him, get his attention, grabbing his hands. He is shaking hands, signing autographs, waving, touching people, shaking people off his back… you get the picture.
All of a sudden, Jesus stops and asks what seems like a really crazy question, "Who touched me?"
Someone had connected to him in faith! There was a purpose in her touch, a desperation and somehow, a faith that if she could only just brush his hem, her life would be changed. Jesus asked the question because he didn’t want her to get away, he wanted to tell her something, "Your faith has healed you - go in peace and be free from your suffering."
I know you can’t spiritualize the parables and apply them to every area of life, but there is a spiritual principal here that is worth looking at. How often do we get perverted in our thinking and try to cope with something for too long, and do it on our own and we’ve spent more than all we’ve had, and we’ve been to the experts, and still we’re suffering and struggling. We think to ourselves, "I made some bad choices, and some ignorant choices that put me into this situation, and I’m going to have to fix it." So we don’t reach out to God for help, and if we do, we really don’t believe that He’ll help us. The only thing wrong with this picture is the fact that God does want to help us. He wants to bring healing and peace and freedom. Reach out and touch him. Ask God for help.
On the physical side, let me say that I believe God still heals people physically and performs miracles. It is different now, than in the NT miracles. I don’t want you to think that if you have enough faith, you will never be sick or have physical challenges. I only know that in my own life, I have suffered needlessly because I refused to reach out and ask God for a touch, thinking that he really didn’t need to be bothered by my troubles when there were so many other things for Him to take care of! Reach out and touch God today.
Imagine God coming into a prayer meeting where everyone is praying and pleading with God, and he walks up to the microphone, and stops the prayer meeting, and asks, "Who just prayed to me? Someone just touched me with a prayer of faith, who was it? I want to tell you something - your faith has changed things. Go in peace and be free from your struggle!" That question from him could change your life!!
There is one more question I want to talk about before I ask you my question. You find it over in the book of John, chapter 21, verse 5. It’s so short and a part of a story that you almost miss it.
The disciples had just witnessed the crucifixion and resurrection of their Master, the one they had left everything for and followed for three years. They had been with him everywhere he went. He had done everything with them. There were only short periods of time when they had been apart during those three years. They had invested everything in him - and now he was gone.
In John 21 we find that they decided to do something they had not done for a long time. They went fishing. All night they fished, throwing out the nets and rowing and pulling them in. And along towards morning, a man comes to the edge of the sea and calls out to them, "Haven’t you any fish?"
Now if that were you and I we would be saying things like, "What kind of question is that? Who cares if we have any fish or not except us? Who would dare to tell us how to fish? We’ve thrown the nets on both sides all night, why should we throw them on the right side now? Who are you anyway?"
"Haven’t you any fish?" is a question that we need to let God ask us every day. How many times do we go about our fishing, our daily lives, our routines, and responsibilities toiling with all our might, growing weary and discouraged, throwing out the nets with no results? How about trying to be fishers of men, as Jesus called us, reaching out, having Friend day, speaking, living our lives… We can do all the above, and we have, and will continue to do so. But without God’s help and blessing it is useless and we end up with empty nets.
Jesus asked this question because he wanted to bless them. And he had to establish their need. If he had walked up to the shore and called out his instruction, "Hey you guys, throw your net over the right side!" they may have responded with, "No thanks, we’ve tried that already. We’re tired and coming in. Go away, who are you anyway?" But he asked first, "Don’t you have any fish?"
"Well, no."
"OK, then throw your nets over on the other side."
"We may as well do it, we don’t have any fish yet." And they did, and it was then they realized whom it was calling out to them.
How long has it been since you recognized the workings of God in your life? He’s asking us, "Don’t you have any results yet? Haven’t you any fish??"
Now let me ask you my question. If you’re not a part of our groups on Wednesday evenings, you are going to hear a question similar to what you might be asked then. You have an advantage here today - you don’t have to answer out loud! You only have to answer inside and to God. Here’s my question, "If today and the rest of this week is going to be different than last week, in terms of your relationship with God, WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO DIFFERENT?" Will you hide from God or talk with Him daily? Will you reach out and touch God with faith, or refrain? Will you allow him to bless you, or perform in your own strength? WHAT WILL YOU DO DIFFERENT THIS WEEK?
