Come to God for Questions, Not Just Answers
We love answers. We are drawn to clarity, to resolution, to the neatly defined. Especially within the evangelical tradition, we prefer our theology neat and our doctrines well-organized. That is both our strength—and our weakness. I want to offer you an idea today that may feel counterintuitive: before you come to God for answers, come to Him for questions. The questions themselves become meeting places where revelation is born.
From the Assumed to the Defined
I believe that many sincere believers draw comfort, peace, and security from the simple fact that God has a vision for their lives. There is nothing wrong with that—it is true. But I think we are missing something in that equation. If I merely say, “God has a plan for my life,” and feel warm and secure, like a baby resting in His arms, I may be falling short of what He actually intends.
God does not want me to wander through today merely saying He has a plan. He wants me to walk in that plan. He wants me to run in that plan. He wants me to live it out.
It is my experience—both in my own life and as a pastor looking into the lives of others—that so many beloved people wander through life not really sure if God still loves them, not sure what they should be doing, not sure where they are headed. I think so many of our greatest resources, particularly the resource of time, get consumed by things that simply fill the hours rather than fulfill the calling. I am not saying it is wrong to be entertained. But there is more to life than scrolling endlessly through a screen, more to life than hobbies that go nowhere, more to life than simply meeting the basic needs of survival.
If you are struggling to pay the bills, I understand. I have been there. Your immediate priority may well be finding work and putting food on the table. Yet even in that season, finding the reason God put you on this earth remains one of the greatest things you can ever do.
God is constantly moving us from the assumed to the defined, from the vague to the precise, from the blank page to the written plan. He is a planner—He has a plan—but He wants you to know it. Not at low resolution, zoomed out and blurry, where you vaguely believe God is going to do something with you at some point, in some place, in some way. He wants you to have a high-resolution understanding of what He intends to do in your life.
God Loves to Ask Questions
Here is the key I want you to catch today: God loves to ask questions.
If you think through the Gospels, Jesus asked questions again and again. In most of His interactions with people, when He was not formally teaching, He was asking questions. I do not believe He asked them because He did not know the answers. There is a principle in law: a good advocate will never ask a question he does not already know the answer to. He asks it because he wants the other person to announce the answer out loud—to hear it for themselves, and for everyone else to hear it too.
God, by definition, is omniscient. He knows all things. When God asks you a question, it is not because He lacks information. It is because you do not yet know the answer—or because you do know it, but you have not thought it through carefully enough.
In Matthew 16, Jesus comes to the disciples with two remarkable questions: “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?” Then: “But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:13, 15 NKJV). The disciples began looking inward, reflecting. Some people say You are John the Baptist, or Elijah, or Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. But when Jesus turned the question directly to them—”Who do you say that I am?”—He was forcing them to define who He truly was to them.
I do not think it was entirely clear in their minds. He was a rabbi. A teacher. A miracle worker. Could He be the Messiah? They were not really sure.
Then Peter stepped out of human knowledge into revelation: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16 NKJV). Jesus responded: “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 16:17 NKJV).
Do you see what happened? The question created the space for revelation. Peter did not arrive at that truth through study or deduction. The Father revealed it—but the question was the invitation.
Mystery, Revelation, and the Courage to Sit
We do question and answer. God does mystery and revelation.
That distinction is vital. You will receive revelation to the degree that you are content sitting in mystery. God wants you to sit in a place, in relationship with Him, where you are not intrinsically trying to work Him out, but rather you are resting in who He is—the great I Am.
It is, I will admit, a dangerous thing to do. Come to the Lord and say, “Lord, would You ask me some questions about my life? Questions I can think about, meditate on, wrestle with? Would You ask me the questions that I have not yet thought to ask myself?” The questions themselves become opportunities. The questions themselves become invitations. The questions themselves become meeting places where you can encounter Him and receive revelation.
This is the journey I am inviting you into. Get a notepad and a pen. Give yourself permission to write a rough first draft. Do not wait until you have perfect clarity—begin with the questions.
Questions Worth Sitting With
Let me offer you a few questions to carry into the presence of God. Do not rush through them. Sit with them. Let them do their work.
Are there ideas, scripts, or thoughts about an area of your life that heaven wants you to rewrite in this season? What are the challenges you face in this current season—and can you describe them as past, defeated, nailed to the Cross? What is God teaching you right now? What is God trying to unteach you? What old thing about your life does God want to replace with the new? How does God define your identity?
If God were to come to you today and say “yes” to one request, what would that request be? What would living completely free, abounding in joy and victory, look like as you walk with the Lord today? What promises is God speaking over your life in this season—and what promises is He calling you to declare back to Him? What would transformation look like under your present circumstances? What would it take for you to develop a mindset, a lifestyle, a way of being that reflects the fullness of who He has made you to be?
These are not questions to answer quickly. They are questions to live in. They are invitations from a God who already knows the answers but who wants you to discover them—not through information, but through revelation. See the vision. Make it plain. Write it down. Read it. Run with it.
Selah.
