Questions & Purpose

COULD IT BE
Michael Mushok, Aaron Lewis, Jonathan Wysocki, & John April
Recorded by: Michael Card

CHORUS:
Could it be You make Your presence known so often by Your absence
Could it be that questions tell us more than answers ever do
Could it be that You would really rather die than live without us
Could it be the only answer that means anything is You


When Michael Card was cool, I didn't know who he was.  Quite frankly, aside from knowing him as one of the icons of Contemporary Christian Music, I still don't, really.  But the first time I heard him sing this lyric, which hasn't been but about 6-7 years ago (the song is much older), Michael Card became a part of that list of artists who brought us songs that changed our lives.  The verses are ok, but it was this chorus that really hit me!  And this week, years after hearing the song, God may have, for the first time, shown me why.

For my entire life, I've heard the old phrase, "Ye have not because ye ask not."  Scripture says, "Ask and you will receive."  Click on this scripture reference and see it again from the very mouth of Jesus!  These words would be in red letters of a red letter edition Bible.  Read John 14:13-14.  See the recurring theme?  This week, as I was doing my Bible study, I came across one other verse I want you to read.  Click this scripture reference: Ephesians 3:20.  So not only is God telling us to "ask," but He's also showing us in the latter verse that He can accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or imagine!

Ok.  Great!  God can and wants to do that for each of us!  But how many of you know that it don't always happen like that?!?  I've made the bad choices!  I've been to the bottom!  I've been the guy with the gun to his head vowing to take his life because I'd messed up, lost it all, and didn't know what came next!  And in that moment, when I was wanting the answers to those questions of what comes next, I ASKED!!!  Nothing.  No next step was given.  No trust building, faith building answer that I expected after all those sermons I heard about "asking God" and the "answer is already on the way."  BS!!!  (To be quite frank.)  It wasn't!  I felt just as alone as I was before I ever asked the question!

Then...this past week...it finally hit me.  I didn't need the answer.  I already had it!  Not to be cliché or steal an old lyric from André Crouch, but JESUS IS THE ANSWER!  In Exodus 3:13-14 (click on the reference to read it), Moses was being sent by God to lead the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage. So Moses asks God to give him God's name so that the Israelites will know that it really is God who is sending him.  "What's your name, God?"  "I AM."  God was the way out back then.  He parted the sea, took care of the pursuing army, the whole nine!  He made the way!

This happens throughout scripture.  He made a way for Joseph when his brothers sold him into slavery.  He made a way for Daniel in the lion's den, Noah on the ark, 3 Hebrew children in the fiery furnace, Jonah in the belly of a whale, David when facing the wrath of both Goliath and Saul, Paul when he was facing stoning, fed 5 thousand men and their families with 5 loaves and 2 fish, calmed the storm when fear overtook His disciples, died on a cross for the sins of the world, and conquered death and the grave when He rose again!  God makes the impossible possible, and the impassable passable.  THERE IS A WAY AND HIS NAME IS 'I AM'!!!

So then, if we know the answer, why ask the question?  And here is the precious gem of a lesson that God taught me this week: because we learn not just from asking the question, but asking the right question!  Think about it this way.  Remember algebra class?  I HATED algebra!!!  Almost failed it both years I had to take it!  They give you some ridiculous thing like: a + b/c = 32.  Then they'd want me to solve it!  I'm like, DUDE!  The answer is 32!!!  That's what the "=" thingy means!!!  DONE!! Move on!!  But we learn more in algebra many times from what's on the left of the equals sign!

I know so many people that hit their faith ceiling at God granting them a close parking space at Walmart!  They get out and claim, "I must be living RIGHT!"  Hey God gives me those kinds of spaces too, but I don't know about YOU, but I want to be known for more when I die than the fact i was consistently getting the best parking spaces at Wallyworld!!!  Here's the new math that I've learned for my life: my giftings and talents + my desire to seek the heart of God in all I do ÷ my willingness to obey = God's response and blessing in my life.  Now honestly, maybe not EVERYTHING can be boiled down to a formula!  God will not be bound by those!!!  But if you use this as a general rule of thumb...

See we spend our time asking things like:
   "Which job...?"
   "Who will I marry...?"
   "Should I go out to eat tonight...?"
It's not that questions like that don't matter to God, THEY DO!!!  But  God doesn't stop there!  Think past that!!!

So I hear you saying, "Alright, Mr. Smarty Jeans, what would YOU suggest I ask?!?  WHERE DO I START?!?"  Thank you for asking.  Let me tell you a short story and then I'll give you A place (not THE place) where you can start.

Alfred Nobel.  His last name is probably best known for being the namesake of the Nobel Peace Prize.  But it wasn't always that way.  Alfred made his money as an inventor.  Know what he invented that made him so wealthy?  DYNAMITE!  One day, Alfred's brother died.  The local newspaper made a mistake and posted that it had indeed been Alfred who had passed!  So the next morning, Alfred got the chance to do what I dare say few ever have, he read his own obituary!  A French newspaper titled it: The Merchant of Death Is Dead.  Upon reading it, he just couldn't let death be that for which his legacy would mark him, so he instead promoted peace and the Nobel Peace Prize was born.  (Thanks, Jamie Brandenburg, for sharing this story with me!)

I'm going to ask you to start by taking a lesson from Nobel.  I want you to write your own obituary and your own epitaph (that small phrase on your tombstone that will tell generations following you who you were: "loving husband," "devoted father," "gracious, kind and forgiving").  I don't think any of these would be your first choice:
   "Always got front parking spaces at Walmart"
   "#1 Manager in this district"
   "Had 3 houses and 10 cars...they're not here, by the way"

NO!  We want to know we left a legacy that made the world better than we found it!  It doesn't have to be global!  As a matter of fact, the very first place we're commanded to make a difference is in our immediate spheres of influence: families, friends, children, work places.  See?  Once you have what's on the right side of the equals sign (=), there are only so many problems/questions that can lead to that answer.  The answer dictates the question!  It's not just that we ask, it's what we ask!  Is it in line with God's heart for the world?  For YOU?!?

To find that answer, pray.  Ask God to let you see you through His eyes.  Give up your pride and your preconceived notions about you and just trust.  Look at the ways He has gifted you--spiritually.  I'm not talking about talents here.  Sometimes they're involved, but I'm speaking of your Spiritual Gifts.  Are you a giver?  Compassionate?  A Helper?  Teacher?  Pastor/Shepherd?  Leader?  Prophet?  Evangelist?  And the list goes on.  Those core gifts will be at the core of the purpose for which God has placed you here.  Those are the very DNA of God that marks who you are on this earth.

Remember our song that we started with?  "Could it be the questions tell us more than answers ever do... Could it be the only answer that means anything is You?"  YES!  They do!  And yes, He is.

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THANK YOU for stopping by!  Till next time...