Questions

Sometimes it’s irritating; other times it’s encouraging. Sometimes it’s exhausting; other times it’s enlightening. But it’s altogether impossible to avoid – human beings ask questions.

If you’re a parent, you know that little children ask questions all the time. Sometimes their questions are innocent – “Where does milk come from?” Other times, their questions are challenging – “Why do I need to go to bed now?”

The older we get, the more complex our questions become. “Is there such a thing as a just war?” Or, “Why does a good and sovereign God allow disasters?”

Unfortunately, many of us don’t ask enough questions. Maybe we think we’re fully educated, or maybe we think we’ve walked with Jesus long enough, but we don’t ask enough questions.

Questions aren’t a sign of stupidity – we were created with a finite knowledge (Ecclesiastes 8:17), and God encourages us to seek answers (James 1:5). Check out this principle: insightful people aren’t just those who have the right answers; insightful people are those who ask the right questions.

Get a Bible and turn/click to Psalm 15. Here the Psalmist asks one of the best questions in all the Bible: “O Lord, who shall sojourn in your tent? Who shall dwell on your holy hill?”

Quite simply, the question is: who deserves to live in the presence of God? I’ll give you a more simplistic answer: no one (Psalm 14:3, 53:3).

Just look at that list of character qualities in verses 2-5. I wish I could say I lived up to that standard, but I don’t come close. And if you were to tell me that you came close this past week, I would tell you that you are dangerously blind to the condition of your own heart.

One of the things that hit me again this Easter was how undeserving I am. God had no obligation to send His Son, but He delighted in saving me. Praise God for His unmerited grace!

Over the next few weeks, I’ll unpack the rest of this Psalm, but for today, remember two things: keep asking questions and keep celebrating your unmerited salvation!

God bless

Paul David Tripp