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Jun 21, 2021 17:00pm

One Question Leads to Another

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One question leads to another.

Do you ever feel that way? And when a question begs another question, do you feel lost and defeated, or more motivated and yearning to discover the truth?

I’ve heard it many times before as people study their Bible. Just the other day a friend of mine shared that they struggle with their questions leading to more questions.

Let me tell you something – there is nothing wrong with having questions.

I think many of us were told that it’s wrong to question God.

But I think we misunderstood what that means. Yes, we should trust God’s ultimate will and judgment, but it doesn’t mean we can’t ask why.

It doesn’t mean we can’t go to Him and beg for understanding and clarity. In fact, that’s just what he tells us to do.

“‘Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened.’” (Matthew 7:7-8)

In our Scripture from Genesis this morning, it discusses an oak tree and my sister asked me why Jacob buried someone underneath one.

“And as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. And Jacob came to Luz (that is, Bethel), which is in the land of Canaan, he and all the people who were with him, and there he built an altar and called the place El-bethel, because there God had revealed himself to him when he fled from his brother. And Deborah, Rebekah’s nurse, died, and she was buried under an oak below Bethel. So he called its name Allon-bacuth.” (Genesis 35:5-8)

I didn’t automatically have an answer for her, but after a little bit of research, I figured out that oak trees were special.

Many pagan religions worshiped trees. But oaks were more favored in Bible times because they were different than other trees – they towered over most others. In fact, because they were used for worship, the pagans would not dig up the trees or the area around them. They were considered so sacred that the ground around them should not even be disturbed.

At the foot of an oak tree would have been the perfect place to bury a body because no one would dig it up.

As you read and study Scripture, there is absolutely nothing wrong with having questions. But we must train ourselves to seek out trusted and reliable sources to find answers to those questions.

Write your questions down.

Bring them to your pastor.

Ask your Sunday school teacher.

Ask a friend who will go to the Scriptures with you to find the answers.

There will always, always be questions. And that’s not a bad thing, it is how our mind is stimulated and how we will grow in knowledge.

Other times, there will be things we will never know the answer to until we get to heaven. And although I’ve got a list going of things, I’d love to ask God, I’m not sure it will seem as important once I get there.