Unanswered Questions

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. - Hebrews 11:1

Of all the questions I’ve asked God over the years, the one I ask most frequently is made up of just one word: “Why?”

If I had to guess, you’ve probably asked that question a lot yourself. Why didn’t this work out the way I wanted it to? Why is this taking so long? Why is this happening to me? Why can’t my life look like hers? And the list goes on and on. 

We’re so programmed to ask this simple yet loaded question anytime we receive an answer other than “yes” from God. But to flip the question around, why do we feel entitled to know the reason behind everything that happens in our lives? 

Now let me be clear. I’m a big fan of clarity and context. If I can figure out the reason behind something, I feel a lot better about the situation. And if I can’t figure out the reason, I definitely get frustrated. But I’ve learned over the years that part of being human is being in the dark. We’re not omniscient, and we’re not omnipresent. So we can’t know everything, and we can’t be everywhere to see and understand all that's happening behind the scenes. And there’s one simple reason for that: we’re not God. 

A huge part being a follower of Jesus is learning to have faith, and faith means trusting in God when you can’t see the big picture. I know that can be a tough truth to grasp, but it’s one we must cling to if we’re going to make it through the times in life that don’t make any sense to us.

I realize there are a lot of people who like concrete answers. They want to have total and complete understanding of their life and their circumstances. And while I can empathize with wanting that kind of clarity, I also need to be honest and say that if you’re going to live a life surrendered to Christ, you’re not going to get all of your questions answered. 

However, my prayer is that instead of being discouraged by that, you’ll find hope and peace in that. For if this world and everything happening within it was simple enough for us to understand every aspect of it, doesn’t that diminish the power and the knowledge and the greatness of God? 

The more I think about it, the more grateful I am that I don’t have all the answers, that I don’t have to have everything figured out, and that I don’t have to understand every aspect of my story. Instead, I can surrender all of my cares, worries, and questions to the God who knows it all and understands it all. I can confidently believe that God knows why, even when I don’t. And I can have faith that if I’ve trusted God with eternity, then I can trust Him with whatever unanswered questions I have today.