Why Does God Ask Questions

Have you ever asked the question:

“Why does God ask questions?”

Genesis 3:9 says,

“Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him,
‘Where are you?’”.  

Two verses later God poses two more questions. In verse 11 God asks Adam,

“Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?”

As we look thru the scriptures one of the interesting things we find is that God asks quite a few questions. In Genesis 3:9 God asks Adam, “Where are you?”. Later in verse 11 God asks how Adam found out he was naked and if Adam had done what he was told not to. Jesus was certainly no different than His Father. A quick scan of the Gospels shows us Jesus would oftentimes ask questions. In Matthew 7:9 Jesus asks, “What man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?”. More prominently, Jesus posed a question from the cross. Mark 15:34 records the most important question ever asked:

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”

Let’s focus on this last question in order to answer our question. Why would God, In the person of Jesus, need to ask a question? Didn’t He know the plan? Didn’t Jesus know why the Father had forsaken Him? To answer this we have to realize that Jesus wasn’t the first person to ask the question. He was actually quoting from Psalm 22. It starts like this:

My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me? 

Why are You so far from helping Me, 

And from the words of My groaning?

O My God, I cry in the daytime, but You do not hear; 

And in the night season, and am not silent.

But You are holy, Enthroned in the praises of Israel.

Our fathers trusted in You; They trusted, and You delivered them.

They cried to You, and were delivered; 

They trusted in You, and were not ashamed.

But I am a worm, and no man; 

A reproach of men, and despised by the people.

All those who see Me ridicule Me; 

They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying,

"He trusted in the LORD, let Him rescue Him; Let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!"

Psalm 22 is actually a prophecy. It describes in amazingly accurate detail how the Messiah would be treated. It was written from a human experience, but with a recognizably prophetic purpose. When Jesus quoted this Psalm from the cross he was actually teaching. Any Jew who was listening should have recognized the Psalm and realized that the scriptures had described this very event hundreds of years before. They should have immediately understood, even if they had never met Jesus before, they were witnessing the persecution of God’s Anointed. Jesus wasn’t asking questions to find out the answer. He was asking questions to reveal the truth. That was the purpose of God’s questions in Genesis. That is the purpose of any question God asks. God’s questions aren’t for His education. They are for ours.

What question has God posed to you lately?

What is Love?

Perhaps no other subject throughout human history has been written about as much as love.  People are captured by the idea of love.  As a society we spend untold hours and billions of dollars on the subject.  Our heroes seek it.  Our bards opine it.  Our youth are inundated with its value.  Countless authors have written myriads of books revolving around this universal subject.  And problem with all of these conditions is most of us have no idea what love really is.  God’s spoken word authored this world.  It would then stand to reason that He has the authority to define the seemingly most captivating subject within it.  So, what does God say love is?

First I want to point out that love is a commandment.  Look with me at Deuteronomy 6:5

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.

It is given to us as a commandment again in Leviticus 19:18

You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord.

You see, love is given to us in the law as a commandment.  The implication then is that love is an action you commit.  If God did not command that we have an emotional response to him,  He commanded us to action.  So many times in marital counseling someone will say, “I just don’t love him anymore,” or, “We just don’t love each other the way we used too.”  I inevitably find myself wanting to scream, “Then you better start right now.”  Contrary to what this world wants to sell you, love is not an emotion.  Desire is an emotion.  Happiness is an emotion.  Infatuation is an emotion.  Love is an action.    Love is not something you fall into.  Love is not something that finds you.  Love is not something you find.  Love is something that you are commanded to do. 

This means that when your spouse does something you don’t like you still have to love them.  This means that when someone betrays your trust you still have to love them.  It is a scary concept.  It means you are responsible and accountable for whom you choose to love.  There is suddenly no acceptable reason for not loving; anyone.  Accepting love as a commandment changes the horizon.  Suddenly, love has nothing to do with an inexpiable force.  Suddenly no one is a victim.  Suddenly love is no longer something that happens to you; but something you do.   Suddenly you are empowered to love the way God intended.

Love is not just a commandment.  Love is the greatest commandment. It is preeminent above all other aspects of God’s law.  When asked the greatest commandment Christ points towards love.  As a matter of fact in Matthew Chapter 22 Verses 37 through 40 he states that all the law hangs upon the precept of love.

And Jesus said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.

Christ showed that love is very foundation of the old covenant which God established with Israel.  But, in John Chapter 15 Verse 3, He gave it as His own personal commandment to His disciples.

This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.  Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.

Love’s prominence then as a commandment is astounding.  It is the most inescapable aspect of God’s communion with mankind through His Word.  However, it goes far beyond God’s chief concern of our conduct.  Under the New Covenant love becomes the out-pouring of the new creation we are in Christ Jesus.  According to Paul’s letter to the Galatians love is the fruit which the Holy Spirit produces within us.  Chapter 5 Verses 22 and 23 read as such:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.  Against such there is no law. 

Not only is love given as on of the fruits the Holy Spirit produces in our lives, it is given as the first of these.  Love’s place among these most profound gifts is solidified in the 1 Corinthians 13:1-3.  Here Paul, in some of the most beautiful language of the entire Bible, forever shows love is not only a fruit of the Spirit.  Love is the preeminent fruit of the Spirit.

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.  And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.  And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.

Wow, the escalation of love’s prominence keeps going.  To see love as the greatest fruit borne by the Holy Spirit is to begin to appreciate its importance in the life of a believer.  In fact, love identifies us as believers.  You know a fig tree by its figs.  You know a believer by their love.  Christ put it this way in John in John 13:35:

By this all will know that you are my Disciples, if you have love for one another.

So, love is Christ’s preeminent commandment (action) which transcends the law as the preeminent fruit of the Holy Spirit which is used to identify and individual as a true believer.  That seems like a lot.  But wait, there is more.  Love is also used to define God.  There aren’t many words which by themselves can be used to define God.  However, love is used in that very manner in 1 John 4:8

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.  He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

To say that God is love then is entirely accurate.  God then goes on to define the word which He used to define Himself.  Look in the second epistle of John at verse six.

And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning; that we love one another.  This is love, that we walk according to His (God’s) commandments.  This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it. 

Now we have a definition of love that we can sink our teeth into.  When God says I am to love my neighbor He is telling me to observe His statuettes and commandments in regards to that person.  How beautiful is that.  If you want to know how to love your spouse the way God intended all you have to do is live your life the way God told you to.  If I truly love someone God’s directions for what is holy and right are my guiding principles on my relationship to that person. 

This is a stark contrast to how many people view love today.  Many times I see people treat God’s law as if it were in total opposition to love.  How many times have you heard someone say, “Well I know what the Bible says.  But, God loves us and wants us to be happy.”  God does love us.  That’s why the Bible says what it says.  In His infinite love God wants what is best for us; not what makes us happy.  You see, God’s love is given to us in His Word; not in spite of it. 

What does that love look like in our lives?  The Apostle Paul describes it in his first letter to the Corinthian church.  In Chapter 13 Verses 4 thru 8 it’s given to us in this way:

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, and endures all things.  Love never fails.

I fear that love, as described here, is almost unrecognizable by us today.  When I walk into churches today I see little suffering of any kind; much less long suffering.  In truth, I've seen people leave churches because they were asked to move seats.  “Can you believe what he said to me?” Our pastors encourage envy by promoting a gospel of prosperity.  “If you entreat God’s favor you will prosper (have material possessions).”  We as “Christians” today lack humility.  As a matter of opinion, some of the least humble and most rude people I know claim to be Christians.  Furthermore, we use love as an excuse to condone iniquity in someone’s life rather than speak God’s Truth.  “Well I know what the Bible says.  But, God wants us to love everybody,” is given as the common excuse for whatever sin we want to overlook.  We no longer bear anything.  We believe little of what God actually says and view all others with skeptical eyes.  I am to hope all things.  That hope is to include the redemptive work of sanctification in the lives of my fellow believers as well as God’s promise thereof.  These characteristics of love are missing from our lives.  They have been replaced with this world’s view of love.  The love our society boasts of today is one that is fickle, frail, and failed.  “We used to love each other,” or, “I fell in love with someone else,” are the death rattles of many a marriage today.  Our society’s love is one that fails continually.  This is not the love that God described.  It certainly isn’t the love He demonstrated for us.

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Romans 5:8 describes not just what love looks like, but what it accomplishes.  Love redeems the one who is without merit.  Our churches are in need of that love.  Our homes are in need of that love.  My soul is redeemed by that love.

The Original Bailout

Much has been said lately about economic bailouts. I am convinced economists, commentators, spectators, and politicians have said far more about this subject then either you or I can understand. What then could an uneducated Jack-In-The-Pulpit have to say that might interest you? I am so glad you asked. I want to invite you to look at the first bailout ever recorded by history. Understanding this first bailout is crucial for you to prosper during the current economic crisis.

To begin we need to categorize the American economy of the last twenty years. By way of speaking in generalities that economy presented all that one needed to thrive. All that was needed was the willingness to pick the fruit of prosperity from any of the many bearing trees that made up our Gross Domestic Product. I will go as far as to say it was a near facsimile of the Garden of Eden. Then we started to get greedy. Individuals, in mass, traded what was good for sustenance for the fruit that was just out of our reach (sub-prime mortgages on over priced properties). Next thing you know, much like Adam and Eve, the American homeowner faces the impending doom of eviction. Now we need a bailout from a wise and sovereign governing authority….. Jesus Christ. If you just said, “Jesus didn’t have anything to do with the Garden of Eden,” or, “By Jesus he means our elected officials,” you are sadly mistaken.

Let us look at the bailout as it is recorded in Genesis Chapter 3 verses 14 and 15.

The LORD God said to the serpent,
"Because you have done this,
Cursed are you more than all cattle,
And more than every beast of the field;
On your belly you will go,
And dust you will eat
All the days of your life;

And I will put enmity
Between you and the woman,
And between your seed and her seed;
He shall bruise you on the head,
And you shall bruise him on the heel."
(NASB, Copyright 1995, The Lockman Foundation)

To some, this looks like a curse. And, to some extent it is. However, it is in fact the first recorded bailout. In the next few verses God is going to hand Adam and Eve their eviction notice. This eviction notice is ultimately a very real and literal death sentence. You see, had they obeyed God and not been banished from the garden, they would have never died. However, here in verses 14 and 15 God shows them his plan for their future before he kicks them out of the garden to die. Look closely at what God says to the serpent in verse 15. “And I will put enmity … between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.”

- The seed of the serpent (what he created ): sin in the lives of Adam and Eve and their subsequent separation from God

- The seed of the woman (the only child ever born having no earthly father): our Lord and Savior, Christ Jesus

- You shall bruise him on the heel (a painful but non-fatal wound): Christ’s suffering and death on the cross followed by his eternal resurrection

- He shall bruise you on the head (a fatal wound): Christ forever defeated Satan’s accusations against us when he bore our sins and punishment of death on the cross

You see, the first housing crisis had a bailout already in place before the first eviction notice was ever delivered. If God already provided for your greatest need (forgiveness of sin) will He not provide for these other matters you face during the current “crisis”? His bailout is the only one in recorded history that has completely provided for those who were in need. So many people are willing to turn to our government for help in these times of need. I urge you to turn to the Lord. He saves. He provides.

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
- From Matthew’s eyewitness account concerning Jesus of Nazareth chapter 6 verse 33 (NASB, Copyright 1995; The Lockman Foundation)

The Most Basic Order

"Follow Me!"

These are the words echoed across a place in southern Georgia known as "Sand Hill". They are the motto of the infantry. Young recruits who will someday be called soldiers are taught that this is the spirit they must adopt in order to become one who will someday stand on the forefront of our nations struggles. They are to stand before all others, lock their eyes upon the objective ahead and obey the command, "Follow me!" while issuing the same to those who will come after them.

"Follow Christ," is the simple message that has become so cluttered it is nearly lost to an entire generation. Pastors, parents, popes, politicians, and peers have all contributed to the ever increasing confusion. Many people sit in churches today that will gladly teach concerning prophesy, financial prosperity, marital compromise, or dogmatic legalism. Many of these would gladly comment on political concerns or social degradation. However, these same churches are content to allow individuals to exit through the double doors without ever being told they have a responsibility to follow Christ in body, mind, and spirit.

I have been in many environments where it would be easy to find someone willing to converse with me about how conservative fundamentalists who were chasing the unsaved away from churches. Likewise, I have stepped in churches where it would be all too easy to find someone willing to denounce liberal compromisers over their choice of music, clothes, or bible translation. In all these cases I would have been hard pressed to find someone willing to show and individual how to follow Christ on a daily basis.

In any place of worship today, one is more likely to hear, "By the way, have you seen our new family life center?" than, "You are required to forsake all and spread the gospel of Christ."

The gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John record almost twenty times when Jesus would make this simple, effective, inclusive, undefeatable, and utterly most important statement. Christians in America should learn a valuable lesson from the Infantry Soldier fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. We are called to disregard the noise and confusion of the battlefield. We should lock our eyes on the One Who Leads Us; and move with courage and boldness when He commands, "Follow Me!"