Lacking Knowledge

We go through life questioning events and circumstances. Why did this happen to me? How could God let this happen? Why do bad things happen to good people? These appear to be legitimate questions to ask. But, they are questions that arise out of a lack of knowledge and call into question God’s authority. However, God isn’t afraid or turned away by such questioning. As humans we have finite knowledge. We make assumptions based on our limited information. We are not God, who is all-knowing,

We see this in the Old Testament book of Job. Job is an honorable guy with integrity. Yet he loses everything he had, except his wife, who eventually tells Job to “Curse God and die” (Job 2:9). Another statement based on a lack of knowledge. Then some of Job’s friends show up and in their knowledge begin questioning him and talking about hidden sin in Job’s life. The majority of the story is a back and forth conversation between Job and his friends. But then God enters the conversation and questions all of them. God’s first question is: “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?” (Job 38:2). God is telling them that His plans are not well known to them and their lack of knowledge makes it hard for them to understand.

We find ourselves in the same place as Job and his well intended friends. When things go against us, when they don’t work out the way we want them to, or we become aware of bad things happening to good people, we question God. Let me pause for a second to say that in the eyes of God there are no good people. People are good in the eyes of God because, through faith in Jesus, our sins are covered. It is our relationship with Jesus that finds favor with God. Now, back to our limited knowledge. It is human to question what we don’t understand. That’s how we learn. God isn’t offended by our questions. But, He wants us to learn in the process. He also wants us to understand that we are limited in knowledge of His plans. It is because of this limited knowledge that we blame God and accuse Him of being unjust. God is asking us the same question today. “Who is this that obscures my plans with words without understanding?”

Are we questioning God? Or are we making accusations against Him through our questioning? Our motive for questioning God can lead us into more knowledge about His plans, or drive a wedge between us and God. We lack the knowledge to place ourselves in a position to blame God for things that happen.