Faith that questions (by Jerry JR Mensah)

A faith that questions

This article will definitely turn out more personal than I would like. Reluctantly, I can’t talk about faith and questions from a third-person point of view. I suspect this will be because, my faith scale falls more on the question section that conviction. I have the frustrating tendency of needing to predict future outcomes based on present information and events. Anyone who has trekked on the path of faith knows this not very helpful.

How then do I make it?

What do I make of my questions?

Why haven’t I given up on this whole enterprise and stick with what I can see and hold?

But why am I even questioning my faith? Why don’t I question my questions rather? I told you, I have questions.

Maybe I hope writing this will help make someone else’s journey more bearable. Who knows? A man of questions can never really be sure about anything. There is one comforting thought for me in all this however and I found it in one of the most unlikely places in the Bible for this theme.

Most popular discussions about Job is the strength, resilience and magnanimity of his unwavering faith. How in the face of series of tragic events he stood his ground like a true soldier. All this is true, obviously. But, after reading through the 42 chapters of this fascinating book, I didn’t find this truth that obvious. It was quite hard book to finish once you get past the first two chapters. The ensuing chapters were a cesspool of curses, criticisms, lamentations, rebuke, pain and questions! So many questions! (Not really helpful if you are reading the book to find answers.)

But then I got to the 38th chapter where God speaks. And guess what…….. more questions!!!!!! 3 Chapters, God speaks and all of them are just questions! I could’ve pulled my hair out!!!.

But then it hit me, even the Most High has questions!!!

That made a big difference on how I viewed the place of questions in the arena of faith. That questions are not necessarily antithetical to faith.  On the other hand they can be very useful tools.

One feature about questions is their ability to originate from and lead nowhere. One question can spawn a million more even when it is answered. No wonder children have the most questions.

However, faith-grounded questions have the ability to open the believer’s eye to the magnificence of God’s glory.

One main things have helped my question-laden walk of faith so far; Having a point of reference. I borrow this term from a sermon by Ravi. For many the book of Job might be about the triumph of Job in faith in the midst of unspeakable pain, for me it is a 42-chapter theology on the Sovereignty of God over all. And that is the point of reference for me. The Sovereignty of God is the lens that puts all questions in their right perspectives.

It is the comfort for me that, no matter how many questions there may be, God is rightly positioned to provide an answer to all of them. For the believer, every life event is purposed to lead to a much closer walk with God and a questioning faith is no exception

~ Jerry John Rawlings Mensah

p.s Jerry John Rawlings Mensah is a writer friend of mine who has a heart for God. He is the president of the Upper Room, a group for Christian writers and personally believes that in these modern times, the young Christian must be willing to dig deep to seek the face of God. He encourages us to ask questions and seek answers from books written by those long gone in the Christian faith and of course the Bible, our manual.  Knowledge is power and a necessity for the Christian. He who seeks, shall find. ❤️