What You Don’t Know…

What you don’t know, well, that just may be okay.

We are always looking for answers to questions we have about everything that is happening in our lives! Or, if you’re not then perhaps you would be if you believe, “What you don’t know can hurt you” or “Ignorance of the law is no excuse”.

We are even looking for answers that we don’t even know which question to ask for the answer.

• There are some things we cannot know.
• There are some things we may never know.
• There are some things we should never know.

Answers give us direction, stabilize our path and give us freedom from worry. It is the nature of humans to question, to always seek the perfect path and to be free from worry. One pastor recently posted that he is okay with worrying because 99% of the things he worries about never come to pass.

Our times of questions today are no different than it was in Bible times.

• From jail, and just before his death, John the Baptist sent his disciples to ask of Jesus, “Are you the one, or do we look for another?” (Matthew 11:3)
• The Rich Young Ruler asks of Jesus what does it take to inherit eternal life? (Luke 10:25)
• Nicodemus asks Jesus, “How can a man be born when he is old”? (John 3:4)

Questions. Almost as bad as any two year old who is discovering language and yearning to understand the world around them. Surely, you have the answers!

That leads me to my thought for today…

The Disciples are ignoring the blessing of the moment to worry about the future. Jesus is in their midst. It’s been 40 days since the cross. He is here. But Jesus tells them to stay in Jerusalem and wait until they receive power. (Acts 1:4)

What is it that the disciples really want to know?

Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.
(Acts 1:6-7 NKJV)

I could stay right here and investigate the human personality for awhile! For the past 3 1/2 years Jesus has walked and talked with them, performed miracles that no one else has ever done, he’s opened their understanding, taught as the best Rabbi ever, and survived the scourging and the cross. Look! He’s standing before them, alive and in person!

The biggest question of life is… wait for it…

Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?

Really? This is what you want to know? Is Israel this important? Why not ask about Judas? Or what it was like to go through suffering, or what happens after you die, or even if it hurt being brutalized by the Roman soldiers? How did you come back to life????

Jesus simply answers, “It is not for you to know…”. I will not tell you the times or the seasons. You can never know the answer.

Personalize this for a moment. You have a burning question that you have asked in prayer, or cried out from your chasm, or even begged for sweet release…

What if to your question, Jesus simply says, “It is not for you to know…”

What will you do with your life with no hope of knowing the answer? Will you throw in the towel because you do not know? Or, will you live more fully because the answer doesn’t matter?

It’s simply put… It’s not for you to know.

The book of Job is a book of questions. One person tallied up over 600 questions in the book of Job. The story begins with God having a conversation with Satan. When Satan comes before God, he is asked of God, “Why are you here?” Satan responds and then God asks, “Have you considered my servant Job?” God challenges Satan to notice that there was none like Job on all the earth! He was blameless, upright, feared God, and shunned evil! (Job 1:8)

In all perspectives and analysis of the day, he was the holiest man alive!

But, according to Satan, God had a hedge of protection around him, his household and around everything he was involved in. He had the blessings of God so that everything he did he was blessed and his possessions increased everywhere. “Surely he will curse you if you remove the protection.” God allows the worst to happen, except that Job’s life is spared. (Job 1:10-11) As a result of this challenging confrontation, Job loses just about everything.

• His oxen, donkeys, and servants to Sabean raiders.
• His sheep and other servants to a fire of God from Heaven.
• His camel and more servants to Chaldean raiders.
• His sons and daughters as a result of a freakish storm.

Yet he worships God. “Blessed be the name of the Lord!” He does not sin, nor charge (blame) God for his situation. (Job 1:21-22).

A repeat performance between Satan and God happens, and this time Satan is allowed to touch Job’s body, but not his life. (Read Job 2 for the story) Then Job loses his health…  Boils, itching, worms, running sores, corroding bones, blackened skin, fevers, and a dramatic change of appearance. Scripture indicates this terrible condition lasted for months.

Again. In all of this Job did not sin, nor charge (blame) God for the suffering.

The remainder of the book focuses on questions, searching for answers, by Job and every other person involved in the story. Instead of focusing on the questions, I want to focus on this thought.

There was Never An Answer!

This brings me to a shallow analysis of why there are no answers. What does it mean when our deepest questions are never answered to our satisfaction.

Questions create challenges in our lives. 

We seem to constantly ask questions.  A young child is questioning to learn answers they have not had time to learn in school, or even before they make it through the front door of the school.  A teenager questions adult authority.   A young adult questions the system. A young parent questions the children.  And the rest of us just question the sanity of the world.

If you never wonder about what’s happening in the world around you, then you are probably a rare soul who never has a question just yearning for answers.

Some answers come only over the long course of time.

• The Children of Israel were in slavery for 400 years – no answers today, let’s pray for relief tomorrow. Imagine 400 years of not knowing, then when the solution arises you are conditioned to silence… Will you even be able to see the answer? The next 40 years of wandering the wilderness should be answer enough to that question!
• Noah spent upwards of 150 years building the ark and dealing with ridicule, yet he kept building. Finally, years of building, preaching, and gathering is coming to a close, can he trust that God’s plan is to bring something he’s never seen before? Rain? Who’s going to close that door?

From these challenges, over time, we learn some very valuable lessons. 

Sometimes there are answers that God gives us. 
And other times there are no answers to our questions.

Does this stop us from asking? No. What happens if the answer never shows up? Many get frustrated enough to turn their back on God and just live life any way they want to. Others buck up and stand facing into the storm even when it seems the very ground is being pulled from under them.

Sometimes the answer is not really an answer. Sometimes you simply live faithful, regardless.

The story of how God worked with and through Gideon is one of the most remarkable instances in scripture where a man keeps saying, I can’t, but God keeps saying Yes!

What’s often overlooked is the honest way Gideon questioned God and God’s encouraging response to him. In Judges 6:13-24 Gideon questions God as to “why” all this bad stuff is happening to them, after all, were they not promised the “world” when they came out of Egypt. God never gives him an answer to his question, rather, he keeps repeating that Gideon is the man, now is the time, and God would be with him.

Here’s a key to the question: God showed no sign of resentment toward Gideon for his questions. Do you know why God doesn’t resent our questions? Because He has the answers!

“If you need wisdom – if you want to know what God wants you to do – ask him, and he will gladly tell you. He will not resent your asking.”
(James 1:5, NLT)

The answers we hope to receive are not always what God gives us.

• Paul turns to God at some point in his ministry and prays for a release from a “thorn” in his side. God simply answers, “My grace (unmerited favor) is sufficient for you…” (2 Corinthians 12:9) That’s all the answer you need!
• When John the Baptist asks his question from jail… Jesus does not simply give a “yes” or “no” answer – He explains what He is doing as if that should be answer enough. (Luke 7:19-23)

And then there are times, like with Job, when God never gives an answer. He doesn’t tell Job why everything happens to him. And that’s the rub in our life – we want to know why. Why is probably one of the biggest questions we can ask, to which we may never know the answer?

When times of questions come, and you are unsure which way to turn, could I encourage you to look at the Word? There are solutions in the midst of our “not knowing times.”

• Jesus promises the comforter, “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.” (John 14:18) That comforter is the Holy Spirit! It’s with you all the time, let not your heart be troubled! (John 14:1) There is a peace I give you that does not come from the world! (John 14:27)
• Let your conversation (conduct) be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.  So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me. (Hebrews 13:5-6)
• Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35-39) (Notice it’s the “who” and not the “what”.)

Here’s my thought of all thoughts. Whatever is happening in your life, ask your questions of God. He’s okay with it. But be prepared for the answer to not be to your liking, or for the answer to never come. That’s all part of God’s plan for you. And me. Can you hear him say, “Yes”, “No”, “Wait” or to be silent?

And you need to be okay with all of this! Keep living even when the disasters of the world call you question “Who?” or “What?” or “When?” or “Where?” or “Why?”… Valid questions, true, but there will not always be an answer. Be like Paul and understand that God’s Grace is there for you. His unmerited favor is there for you even during your darkest times.

In the KJV, these words we use to question are very popular. Who is used 970 times, What is used 985 times, When is used 2,848 times, Where is used 401 times, Why is used 282 times.

Let’s add one more. How? 543 times. How will this all end? That’s a question you can find an answer to only if you live as Daniel taught at the ending of his book.

“But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will arise to your inheritance at the end of the days.
(Daniel 12:13 NKJV)