Write this week’s memory verse, Matthew 7:7-12, as you read it out loud.

Do you realize we can fully face God with our questions? Asking God our questions with a desire to know Him more leads us to Him in the midst of search. Asking our questions in search is not to question God’s Sovereignty, but to be truthful with Him about where we are in the journey.

Do you realize there are over 3,000 questions in Scripture? The Bible is a book of questions! It is okay to ask questions. It is courageous to come to God with your questions, pouring out your heart in honesty. The Psalms, for example, are filled with honest questions. The Psalms authors do not shy away from asking God about their hurt, doubt, disappointment, anger, fear, feelings of loss, rejection, and abandonment. For example:

Psalm 10:1: Why, O LORD, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?

Psalm 42:9: I say to God, my rock: “Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?”

Psalm 43:2: For you are the God in whom I take refuge; why have you rejected me? Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

Psalm 44:23-24: Awake! Why are you sleeping, O Lord? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever! Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?

Did you grow up in an environment in which you were allowed to pursue God with your questions? If not, what did you do with your questions? Did you ignore them? Did you hide them? Did you discount them? Did you shame yourself for having them?

Read John 11:30-35 How does Jesus address Mary’s disappointment?

Read John 20:24-29 How does Jesus address Thomas’ doubt?

Take time to be honest with God. Discuss with Him your hurt, doubt, disappointment, anger, fear, feelings of loss, rejection, abandonment, or other places of struggle which cause you to have questions. In the Psalms, we discover it is okay to ask questions, but we also learn how to end our time of seeking God in our questions as we wait on Him to work and move in our hearts, minds and souls. Through the Psalms, we know to praise Him for who He is and remind ourselves of His character and love. End your prayer time in the same way as the Psalmists. Remind yourself of how Jesus spoke with Mary and Thomas. Thank Him for His kindness, love, and compassion as we ask questions and search.

Psalm 10:17-18: O LORD, you hear the desire of the afflicted; you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your ear to do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.

Psalm 42:11 and 43:5: Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.

Psalm 44:26: Rise up; come to our help! Redeem us for the sake of your steadfast love!