Let Faith Fill in the Gaps

Recently I was chatting with a friend who was asking all of the questions. They were great questions, really hard, faith-related questions, but really great. We talked through some of them, answered some, and lingered in circles around others. In the end, when our tea was done, our brains were full, and it became too cold to sit on the deck any longer, we prayed, unplugged the twinkle lights and went inside.

No matter how strong your faith in Jesus is, you will always have questions. Questions are good. Questions are healthy. If we take any time at all to contemplate God, read His Word, and to worship Him, I think the questions should come flooding in. After all, He is mysterious and much greater than us and the more we think on Him the more we begin to realize that. It’s impossible to completely understand Him or His ways! Jump in line with the rest of us wanting to know more about the who, what, why, when, where, and how of God, the world, and life.

I think sometimes we are told to shy away from question asking. The church has her tried and true answers and it feels scary to venture beyond those. We are afraid of questions because “what if we don’t know the answer?” But, isn’t that part of the beauty of God? His mystery and His vastness? And here’s the thing, God has answers to ALL of the questions that you have . . . He’s not wondering alongside you or afraid that you might ask something that He doesn’t understand. He has abundant wisdom and knowledge. 

Although He holds all of the answers, He doesn’t always choose to answer us. Sometimes we don’t get an answer because now is not the time for us to know and sometimes it is because we would never understand. However, we cannot let the unanswered questions scare us or shake our faith at its core. Rather, we have to trust God with the ones He chooses to give answers to as well as with the ones left unanswered. After all, He gives us exactly what we need. He gives us just enough answers so that we need our faith to fill in the gaps. Asking questions doesn’t mean you don’t have faith; not needing all of the answers means you do.

“Then he proceeded to denounce the towns where most of his miracles were done, because they did not repent: ‘Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles that were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes long ago. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted in heaven? No, you will go down to Hades. For if the miracles that were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until today. But I tell you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.’”

Matthew 11:20-24

Ask all the questions! Ask questions we have all been asking, ask new questions, deep questions, easy questions and scary ones! But, when doing so, posture your heart towards God and not against Him. If you come with your questions and heart postured with skepticism and accusation rather than resting in what you DO know and holding firm to those truths, you set yourself up to be disappointed. Hard hearts are never satisfied. God could give you all of the answers in the world and it would never be enough. You would be just like the towns in Matthew 11 … Jesus showed them miracle after miracle. He revealed to them, in real time, pieces of the Kingdom of God. What was the answer to all of the prophecies they had been hearing for generations of WHO God would send to save them and HOW? It was being fulfilled right in front of their eyes and yet it wasn’t enough. How often do we approach God with the same kind of attitude? “If I only saw a miracle in real life! If only God would answer THIS question, then I could believe!” But what about what He has already given you? What about the questions He has already answered? What about what you’ve already seen? Don’t be like Capernaum, who saw SO much but was never satisfied. 

Grab some tea, a good friend, turn on the twinkle lights and have a good conversation. Ask all the questions you want! But don’t let your questions hinder your faith, instead let them fuel it. 

Join me in praying this: “Lord, answer the questions that you see fit to answer and let faith fill in the gaps.”