God and Questions: A Prayer of Gratitude

When you first became “real” in my life, God,

you hooked me with curiosity. But it wasn’t long

before I was told to dial back on the questions.

I remember the preacher laughing at my

heartfelt inquiries in the church kitchen. I wanted

to know why any of this mattered if you already

knew everything ahead of time. The preacher

shrugged my question off, told me to grab a

glazed donut, then sent me on my way. In time,

it became clear: Questioning signals a lack of faith,

a lack of faith in Scripture and in God. It reveals

a sense of irreverence. “God is sovereign,” I

would hear. “Leave that to him.” But that never quite

felt right. You were showing me much the opposite:

You draw me to you with questions. They’re gifts.

And you make marvelous things out of questions.

The truth is: A sovereign God surely cannot be afraid

of my questions. Moreover, it seems perfectly reasonable

that a sovereign God would use questions to lead

people to himself. All healthy curiosity points to you, God.

Thus, I’m thankful for the gift of questions. And I’m

grateful you’ve used them to get my attention and pull me

closer to you across the last several decades. Thank you.