Questions

When I was on retreat last week, I read several books in the bible. One of those was the book of Job - so many people have said urghh! when I have said this - and I have to be honest I think in the past I might have had this attitude towards the book as well.



However this time it was different, very different, whether it is because of what I am going through at the moment or whether it is to do with the translation that I read it in (The Message) I'm not sure. But one thing I do know is in parts it even made me laugh out loud!



I did not set out to write notes or anything like that when I settled to read it (in several sessions) however I did end up taking down a couple of verses that particularly struck me.



"What's the point of life when it doesn't make sense, when God blocks all the roads to meaning?" Job 3 verse23.



In this translation the meaning of this verse seems very different to the NLT that I often use. On it's own it is a very hopeless sounding statement. However, when you read on to the Lords response to Jobs pages of woe, He does something very interesting. He answers Job with lots of questions - just as Job had posed questions like the one above.



Could it be that Questions are important, could it be that having questions can be more important than having answers! Most certainly the Lord does not give Job all the answers. I remember once being told that if you have all the answers you don't need any faith (think there may even be a proverb on that!) So questions are good - I'm going to hold onto that, I will also try and be satisfied with not requiring all the answers!



By far my most favourite verse that really had me tickled was this one below:



"Your wise sayings are knickknack wisdom, good for nothing but gathering dust" Job 13 verse 12.



I will certainly try and keep this one to hand to remind me to keep my mouth shut sometimes when facing people in situations where they have many questions - ones that I do not need to answer!