Thursday, February 16, 2017

February 17 Thought of the day...do questions offend God?


Have you ever questioned God? There are plenty of things that we don't understand. When we walk through some hardship or difficulty it is easy to question God. Does God get angry when we ask Him questions? Even tough questions? James answers that question in chapter 1 verse 5.

"If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking."

Many people think that God is easily angered, waiting to punish us at any moment, as you learn the scripture, you begin to understand that God understands mankind more than mankind understands God.

The word "if" assumes that there are times where we will truly need answers. The word "need" describes that someone only possesses knowledge in a limited measure. Which of course means that there is a genuine lack that must be fulfilled. You may understand part of what you need, so some way you must gain more understanding in order to have all that you need. In other words, this could be interpreted "if any of you are short of what you need in wisdom.."

The word "wisdom" means special understanding to resolve and problem. When James is saying "ask" the Greek word is pretty intense, it means to "request adamantly, demanding assistance to meet tangible needs such as food, money, clothing and such". James is telling us that we can feel free to, not only ask the Lord for our spiritual needs and desires, but if we have a practical need we can ask the Lord for that as well.

The meaning behind "our" in this verse implies to "come along side". James in indicating here that we can ask God if we have any kind of need, as long as we are willing to have a posture of coming along side of Him. We must be close to Him if we are going to have our need met.

James completes the thought this way, "if you have any kind of need to resolve any kind of problem, as long as you are close to the Lord, He will gladly meet that need, never being angry because you simply have a need"

God is not afraid or offended by any question posed by those who are close to Him! Are you close to Him? Do you really love Him? If so, God will gladly answer any need or question you might have!

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