When We Do Not Know

“Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?” (John 14:5). Thomas' question was honest. He did not pretend to understand, and Jesus did not turn him away.

Toward God, not away. The Psalms are full of honest questions. What matters is the direction they go: the psalm-writers brought their questions to God instead of using them as a reason to leave Him.

Psalm 10. The psalm opens, “Why do You stand afar off, O Lord? Why do You hide in times of trouble?” (10:1). The writer describes proud people who hurt the helpless and say in their hearts, “God has forgotten; He hides His face; He will never see” (10:11).

From question to prayer. He does not stop at the question. He prays, “Arise, O Lord! O God, lift up Your hand! Do not forget the humble” (10:12). Then he says what he knows: “But You have seen, for You observe trouble and grief,” and “The helpless commits himself to You” (10:14).

Heard. Near its end the psalm turns to confidence: “Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will prepare their heart; You will cause Your ear to hear” (10:17). To prepare the heart is to make it steady. The question was answered by remembering who God is.

Psalm 77. Asaph could not sleep. He asked, “Will the Lord cast off forever? And will He be favorable no more? Has His mercy ceased forever? Has His promise failed forevermore? Has God forgotten to be gracious?” (77:7-9). These hard questions are in the Bible itself.

Remember. Then he turned: “I will remember the works of the Lord; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old” (77:11). He went on to praise God: “You are the God who does wonders” (77:14).

Honest prayer. Honest prayer is not a lack of faith. It is faith speaking to God. Both writers told God what they did not understand, and both came back to remembering who He is.

Jesus answers. Later that night Jesus knew that the disciples wanted to ask Him something, and He spoke to their question before they asked it (John 16:19). He understands our questions better than we can say them.

The question under the questions. Thomas asked about a road, but the deepest question was how anyone could come to the Father. Jesus answered with Himself. The next day He made that answer sure at the cross, where He died for our sins, and on the third day He rose again.

For you. Bring God your real questions. Pray them, search the Scriptures with someone you trust, and remember what God has already done in Jesus.

Thomas asked for directions, and Jesus answered with Himself (John 14:6). The book of Job shows God doing the same thing long before.

Job. Job was blameless and upright, a man who feared God and turned away from evil (Job 1:1). In one season he lost his children, his wealth and his health. His friends insisted that he must have sinned. Job insisted that he had not, and he asked God why.

Where is God? Job cried, “Oh, that I knew where I might find Him, That I might come to His seat!” (Job 23:3). He looked forward and backward, to the left and to the right, and could not find Him (23:8-9).

'Anah. Then “the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind” (Job 38:1). The Hebrew verb is 'anah (say: ah-NAH), to answer or respond. God had not been silent for good.

Questions, not reasons. God asked, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” (38:4). He spoke of the time “When the morning stars sang together” (38:7). Then He asked, “Have you entered the treasury of snow” (38:22), and He showed Job the storms and the wild animals, all under His care (38–39).

Hand over mouth. Job answered, “Behold, I am vile; What shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth” (40:4). Vile here means low and unworthy before God. He had spoken, and he would say no more (40:5).

Seeing God. At last Job said, “I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You” (42:2). He admitted that he had spoken of “Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know” (42:3). Then: “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You” (42:5). He humbled himself before God (42:6).

What Job received. Job was never told the reasons for his suffering. He received something better than an explanation: he met God Himself.

The fuller answer. “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (John 1:18). Job heard God speak out of a storm. In Jesus, God came near enough to be seen, heard and touched, and to live among us.

The cross and the empty tomb. Our deepest problem is not missing information but sin that separates us from God. Jesus answered it by dying for our sins and rising again, so that we may know the Father through Him.

For you. Some of your questions may wait a long time for answers. The most important one is already answered: God has shown Himself in Jesus. Come to Him.