Is it wrong to question God?

Although Job in bitterness of soul said many perverse things, the result of it all was to God's glory and to the blessing of His servant. Many of the questions which he in anguish asked, became clear to him in the course of his pleading in defence of himself. Others were answered for him by Elihu, and again God answered some in the whirlwind and that mostly by counter questions.

Every question can be asked in two ways, either in humility and with the sincere desire to learn, or else in presumptuous rebellion against the solution, be it what it may. In the first case the questioner honestly takes the place of a learner, which is the right thing for him to do; in the second case he takes for granted that there is no satisfactory answer or else that it is definitely withheld. Man either comes before God in sincerity and with the prayer which later Elihu taught Job "What I see not teach Thou me" (Job 34:32) or he asks in rebellion "Why is everything so different from what it ought to be?"

He who does not wish to sit at the feet of the Master and say "I will demand of Thee and answer Thou me" takes the place of judge against his God. The vessel says to the potter "What makest thou?" Foolish as the question is, we yet find it frequently among the children of Adam, the generation of backsliders. The so-called Higher Criticism that has done so much harm in Christianity puts all its questions in the latter way. In our day, when the spirit of independence forces an entrance everywhere, and all men want to be free to think and do as they please, this fundamental error is almost universal. Even believers must take heed lest they be affected by the spirit of the times. Moreover there is nothing new under the sun. In reality the men of Job's time had to solve the same problems as we have to-day; only with this great difference, that God's counsel has since then been more clearly revealed. There may be some excuse for Job arguing with God, but for the Christian professor who possesses the whole word of God, it is a terrible thing to doubt the wise and loving providence of God.

You must not suppose that I wish to discourage you in the desire for information, or in the practice of making enquiries for that purpose. On the contrary, an awakened interest in the scriptures displays itself in asking questions. If the question springs from a simple and honest desire to know God's will as revealed, it will result in blessing. But if the question originates from a wish to find objections to the truth it can certainly be of no profit to the soul.

On one level, there is a very simple answer: man must not criticise God, nor question His rights. ‘But who are you, O man, to answer back to God?’ (Rom. 9:20 ESV). God is always right. Man, finite, limited and created human being that he is, has no right whatsoever to take issue with God in any way. In writing or speaking about God we want to take care to do so with the reverence He is due.

It is, at once, absurd and impious, in the very highest degree, for puny mortals to dare to question the counsels, enactments and ways of the Almighty Creator, and All-wise Governor of the universe. Assuredly, all who do so must, sooner or later find out their terrible mistake. Well would it be for all questioners and cavillers to give heed to the pungent question of the inspired apostle in Romans 9. "Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus? Has not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel to honour, and another to dishonour?"

How simple! How forcible! How unanswerable! This is the divine method of meeting all the hows, and whys, of infidel reason. If the potter has power over the lump of clay which he holds in his hand — a fact which none would think of disputing — how much more has the Creator of all things power over the creatures which His hand has formed! Men may reason and argue interminably as to why God permitted sin to enter; why He did not, at once, annihilate Satan and his angels; why He allowed the serpent to tempt Eve; why He did not keep her back from eating the forbidden fruit. In short, the hows, and whys, are endless; but the answer is one, "Who art thou, O man, that repliest against God?" How monstrous for a poor worm of the earth to attempt to sit in judgement upon the unsearchable judgements and ways of the Eternal God! What blind and presumptuous folly for a creature, whose understanding is darkened by sin, and who is thus wholly incapable of forming a right judgement about anything divine, heavenly or eternal, to attempt to decide how God should act, in any given case! Alas! alas! it is to be feared that thousands who now argue with great apparent cleverness, against the truth of God, will find out their fatal mistake when it will be too late to correct it.

And now Abraham takes the place which it was surely one part of the design of this gracious communication to put him into — the place of intercession. For us whose characters are to be formed by the apprehension of Christ, and who know Him now as in this very place of intercession, how important it is to realize what is before us here! It is His people for whom the Holy Spirit intercedes below. Abraham's prayer too follows the same pattern: "And Abraham drew near and said, 'Wilt Thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city, wilt Thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein? That be far from Thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked; and that the righteous be as the wicked, that be far from Thee: shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?'"

How strange the implied doubt here in Abraham's mind! What poor weak questions do not these minds of ours raise! An Abraham praying the Judge of all the earth to do right! Is it not a first principle that of course He must? How could he doubt? we say. Beloved, do we never? and how much more do we know of God than Abraham could do possibly! How large a portion of our prayers, if they were analyzed, would be resolved into this, the asking God to do right! Alas! what infidelity, even as to first principles, cleaves to us when we little suspect it! God will do right! Why, of course. Oh, but when every thing on earth seems as if it were going wrong, — when with Jacob we are tempted to say, "All these things are against us," — when with Job we have to take our place upon the dust-heap, has there never the bitter question sprung up in our hearts, if it brake not the door of our lips, — do we never at least have to still our hearts with it, — "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?"

But it is beautiful to see how Abraham flings it all out — doubt and all, casts it down before God. "Pour out your hearts before Him," says the Psalmist; "Be careful for nothing," adds the apostle; "but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God." In these very requests, what a multitude of things unworthy of Him! but He who has known them in the heart before would have us pour them out in His presence, and oh the relief that the heart gets so! How many of these workings of unbelief do the psalms thus give us! but they are poured out before God, and the soul stills itself in that blessed presence as no where else can it be stilled. What! we have been asking God if He is God! "O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted," peace! He is indeed the "God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."

In the presence of all these sorrows the prophet groans in spirit, for God's word permits of a groan, but never a grumble (Rom. 8:22-27). Moreover, the prophet utters his groans to the Lord. Alas! too often there is a tendency with us, as believers, to discuss among ourselves the failures of the people of God in such a spirit of bitterness that the groaning becomes mere grumbling, or complaining as to what God allows in His dealings with His people. Thus complaining words to one another may betray either a lurking spirit of rebellion against God, or an effort to exalt ourselves by belittling others. Good for us, if we escape these snares by pouring out the anguish of our spirits, and the exercises of our souls before the LORD.

The prophet was well aware of his own uprightness. Later, when Israel's remnant will go through the judgments of the last days, it will also be aware of this. But Habakkuk had not yet received an answer and only saw the victory of evil over good. He directed his “why's” to God. He would certainly not have done so without trusting that God would answer him. How can it be that “justice doth never go forth” and that, when it is eventually pronounced, it is “perverted,” the opposite of what a God-fearing, righteous soul might have expected? No matter where the faithful believer turns, everywhere he meets injustice and ungodliness.

“Thou dost not save.” The issue here is not a spiritual salvation, but a a temporal deliverance. The anxious soul would like to see peace restored, and the violent ones judged and taken away. The violence is there, it occurs under our eyes, and — God does not answer! We repeat: this is not a lack of faith, but the cry of alarm uttered by a heart that, while not yet sufficiently established in trusting faith, sees itself confronted with a problem that thus far remains insolvable in his eyes. Why does God allow the evil? How can He seemingly forget His own who are defenseless in the midst of the wicked systems of man? The prophet would soon receive the answer, but a different one than he expected. He had to experience a sorrowful time of training that would become a rich blessing for his soul, before he understood what God would bring about in the hearts of His own in days of trial.

(1) Job's words are like a strong wind, a blast of bitter complaint, and still more bitter charge against God. How long is he going to utter such things? This is a harsh, but, we may well say, just, correction of the irreverent and extreme rashness of Job's words. Perhaps sympathy might have pursued a gentler course, but when a man begins to charge God it is well to rebuke him sharply.

(2) Bildad asks Job a plain question, "Doth God pervert judgment?" Is He unrighteous? For anyone who knows Him there can be but one answer. "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right? He would not be God, if He were not perfectly righteous. This shows the dreadful precipice to which Job approaching, goaded on by this false principle that God always punishes for sin. Job was not a sinner; therefore God was unjust! Fearful reasoning this, in which both the premise and the statement of fact are wrong and in which the conclusion is blasphemous. Why did not Job, and Bildad also, pause and ask if there was not something wrong in the premise: Does God always punish for sin alone? Why does not Job consider the statement of facts; is he sinless? But this will come out in due time. We will follow Bildad.

In the epistle to the Philippians the apostle gives another exhortation to the saints, that they may approve themselves as the children of God. "Do all things without murmurings and disputings: that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons" (children, really) "of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation" (not nation), "among whom ye shine as lights in the world; holding forth the word of life," etc. (Phil. 2:14-16.) The manner of the introduction of this exhortation is worthy of all attention. It is, "Do all things without murmurings and disputings" (or reasonings): "that ye may be," etc. The Father knew, and our foolish hearts too in measure know, how prone we are to these murmurings and disputings. We murmur at a thousand things in our lot, just as the Israelites did in the wilderness, and thereby question the care, the love, and the wisdom of Him who orders all our path, and lose the blessed sense of His presence with us. As a consequence, we become an easy prey to the suggestions and temptations of the enemy. Hence disputings or reasonings are also mentioned; for the moment unbelief prevails, so that we walk by sight, reasoning takes the place of faith. There is nothing so destructive of confidence in God as a questioning mind. A child of God should abhor reasoning, remembering that word of the psalmist, "I hate thoughts." The thoughts of God are our portion, and with these we should be content, and to be satisfied with these is in fact the sign of a lively faith.