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                    Is It Right To Question God?
Is God fair? Can He be trusted? Are you disappointed with God? Does He make sense? Questioning God is marketable. A considerable number of books have become best sellers by using titles which call God into question. One such book, Disappointment With God, ironically offered a hundred percent money back guarantee to anyone disappointed with the book! Gratefully, many of the books using these titles (the above mentioned included) help confused people understand God better. But the drawing power of such titles is a little disturbing. 
It's not new of course for people who believe in God to sometimes question him in relation to their painful circumstances. God actually invites us to look to Him for wisdom, grace and peace in the midst of our trials (Ja. 1:5; Heb. <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />4:16; Phil. 4:6-7). We even told to "cast our care on Him," because he cares for us (I Pe. 5:7). But God's invitation is not to be used presumptuously. Scripture equally admonishes us to approach the Almighty with reverence and faith - "nothing doubting" (Heb. 12:28-29; Jam. 1:8). In the midst of his suffering, the patriarch Job directed a series of questions toward God, and received a pointed question. "Who is this who darkens my counsel with words without knowledge."  On another occasion God said to him, "Will the fault finder contend with the Almighty? Let him who reproves God answer it" (Jb. 42:1-2).These words strike a familiar chord with the Apostle Paul's response to God's sovereign election. "What shall we say? Is God unjust?" "Not at all!"  Then, quoting the very words of God to Moses, he wrote, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy ..." (Rom. 9:14-15).  A little later, he raises the question, "Who are you to talk back to God?  Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?
Who are we to call God before our judgment seat demanding an answer from Him? There is a fine line between seeking God's wisdom and assigning blame to Him - a line we as mere creatures would do well to respect. In working through our confusion about suffering, it is helpful to recall how Scripture teaches us to allow for a world God prescribed (the goodness andinnocence of Eden); one He permitted (the violence and rebellion of Cain) and a world He will providentially make new (the new heavens and earth). As a young boy I personally learned this lesson through a difficult family trial.  When I was twelve years old my father acquired a severe case of rheumatoid arthritis.  As the oldest son of eleven children,I was more keenly aware of his suffering and the resulting difficulties. "Why God?" I asked. "My dad's a good man. He has so much responsibility. He's just trying to meet our needs! You say you love us and you have the power to heal all diseases, why don't you answer my prayers and heal him.?"These were the honest questions of a boy's heart. Refusing to grow bitter (which sours all of life), I struggled on with my questions. As my understanding matured, I learned how to marvel at God's ability to bring good out of suffering. Trials help to promote the greatest human need – day by day dependence on the living God (Matt. 4:4).
From this deepened faith, we experience the joy of fellowship with our creator.  I also grew to realize that sin, sickness, and death were not part of God's original plan. These things came as a result of our rebellion against God. This is not the world as God originally intended it to be, nor what it will one day be when he recreates it; a world with no sickness, sorrow, or death (Rev. 21:1-5).Meanwhile, it is appropriate and wise to let God be God – to respond with unceasing gratitude for the smallest measures of His goodness, realizing that He is a debtor to no one. The fact that God would show kindness to anyone is profound mercy. Yet the truth of Scripture offers far more. In flesh and blood, deity and humanity united in the person of Jesus, bearing the just punishment of our sin on a Roman cross.  Shouldn't this one fact answer all questions? Perhaps even making them unnecessary?
 Steve CornellSenior pastorMillersville Bible ChurchMillersville, PA 17551717-872-4260