The God Questions: The Questions God Asked in Scripture

By Jimmy F. Orr D. Min

One of the foundational Christian beliefs is that God has spoken. Most of the time in the Bible, God makes statements. At other times, rather than making statements, God asks questions. And Gods questions provoke serious thought.
Many people have questions they would love to ask God. Many more have questions about God. But the most important questions are the ones God is asking us. The God Questions explores these and other questions God asked people in the Bible:

Where are you?
Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?
Why are you so angry?
Where have you come, from and where are you going?
Why are you so afraid?
Why do you call me Lord, Lord, and do not do what I say?
Who do you say that I am?
When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?

The questions God asked people of ancient times are the same questions God is asking us today. Discover the questions God is asking you, and in doing so, find out what God has in mind for your life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Dec 4, 2013
• ISBN: 9781490811970

Jimmy F. Orr D. Min

Since 2000, Dr. Jimmy Orr has served as the pastor of Palmetto Baptist Church, Palmetto, Georgia, and teaches Christian studies at Brewton-Parker College, Newnan, Georgia, and the Frederick M. Hawkins Center for Christian Studies, Cumming, Georgia. He graduated from the University of Georgia and the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He and his wife, Amanda, have two children, Zach (and his wife, Micole) and Hillary, and live near Atlanta. You can find Dr. Orr’s blog at www.furthertheconversation.com

Book preview

Where Are You?

Our Relationship with the God Who Is Seeking Us

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, Where are you?

Genesis 3:8-9

Chapter One

A fter the fall of humankind in Genesis 3, the first four sentences from God’s mouth are questions. The first of these is one that should give us pause as we think about it. Genesis 3:1-9 gives us the story.

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the L

ord

God had made. He said to the woman, Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’? The woman said to the serpent, We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’ You will not certainly die, the serpent said to the woman. For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the L

ord

God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the L

ord

God among the trees of the garden. But the L

ord

God called to the man, Where are you?

If only my ancestors had known Dan Curtis, a professional family historian and life coach who lives in British Columbia. He helps people write their life stories so that their descendants will remember them for years to come.

I have been researching my own family’s genealogy, tracing parts of my family tree all the way back to Europe. But on my father’s side, I have run into what genealogists call a block wall. I traced my family tree on my father’s side through my father, Jerry; my grandfather, Ezra; my great grandfather, Frank; my great-great grandfather, William; and my great-great-great grandfather, Robert. But beyond Robert, I cannot find any information. How I wish my ancestors had recorded their history so that much later, descendants like me could know more about our family tree.

To people who are interested in writing their life stories, Curtis recommends some essential questions that we need to ask. These are questions that, Curtis says, go to the heart of a person’s character and beliefs.¹

1. What do you know about yourself?

2. What are you good at?

3. Why are we put on earth?

4. What brings you happiness?

5. What makes you sad?

6. How would you define success?

7. What has mattered most to you in life?

8. What do you believe happens after you die?

9. What are the rules that you try to live by?

10. How are you loved?

11. What is the most important life lesson you have learned?

12. Where are you going with your life?

13. What regrets do you have?

14. What would you like to change about yourself?

15. What would you like your epitaph to say?

16. Where do you find your sanctuary?

17. How does spirituality manifest itself in your life?

18. What do you still want to accomplish?

19. What is it that people do not know about you?

20. What does family mean to you?

Perhaps one of the most important questions anyone can ask himself is the question God asked Adam and Eve: Where are you? These are the first words spoken by God after Adam’s fall, but what exactly does this question mean? When God asked Adam, Where are you? what did God mean?

A Geographical Question?

On the surface, God’s question to Adam appears to be a geographical question. Usually, when people ask you where you are, they do not know where you are, therefore, they are asking you for the purpose of finding you. In such a case, the question is a geographical question much like Where do you live? is a geographical or locational question.

Sometimes, as a geographical or locational question, Where are you? is not a serious issue, that is, it is not a life or death question. If my wife Amanda and I are in opposite sides of our house, and I call out Where are you? that question does not usually come with life-changing circumstances.

Sometimes, however, the question is more serious. For example, anytime my children are driving long distances, their mother and I tell them to call us periodically as they travel, and to phone us when they arrive at their destinations. Each time they call, we ask them, Where are you? meaning, How far along are you in your travel?

Still yet, there are times when the question Where are you? takes on a much more serious tone. When Ian Wright, a young man whose family is in our church, first went into the army, he was sent to Missouri for basic training. As long as Ian’s answer to the Where are you? question was Fort Leonard Wood in Waynesville, Missouri, we felt pretty good. But, when the answer to the Where are you? question became somewhere in southern Afghanistan, then the question took on a much more significant meaning.

So, could it be the case here that God is asking Where are you? because he does not know Adam’s geographical location? Is God asking this question because he does not know where Adam and Eve are, and desires to know where they are? And, if God does not know Adam’s location, is this not a serious question?

It is not likely that this is the case. For one thing, God is omnipresent, or everywhere present. Therefore, God would know exactly where Adam and Eve were because God was, in an omnipresent sense, already there. Secondly, God is all-knowing. So, he knew exactly where Adam and Eve were. He knew where they were hiding in the bushes. Most certainly, God’s question was not about Adam’s whereabouts or his location.

A Point-in-the-Process Question?

Sometimes, when we ask the Where are you? question, we are actually referring to a point-in-the-process question. For example, someone may approach a college student who they know to be a college student, but they do not know whether that student is a freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, or a graduate student. The person may ask the student, Where are you in your educational process? In this case, the person asking the question is not asking for the student’s geographical location, but is asking what year the student is currently in college.

One might also ask, Where are you in relation to accomplishing your goals in life? Where are you in relation to where you wanted to be at this point in your life? Some older folks have what they call a bucket list, a list of things they want to do or accomplish before they die. If we ask one of these people where they are in relation to fulfilling their bucket list, we are asking a point-in-the-process question.

Recently, Mrs. Jo Barfield, a lady in her nineties who is in our church, had surgery to repair a broken femur bone which she suffered in a fall. Recovery for Mrs. Jo may take several months or longer. We could go visit her in three months and ask her, Mrs. Jo, where are you in the recovery process? This is a point-in-the-process question.

Was this the kind of question God was asking? As important as this question is, I do not think that this was what God was asking when he asked Adam and Eve Where are you?.

A Psychological Question?

Sometimes Where are you? is a psychological question. A friend of mine has been diagnosed with severe depression, and is undergoing treatment. I may ask her the Where are you? question in order to find out where she is in her psychotherapy. In this case, the question is not a locational question, but rather a point-in-the-process question having to do with her psychological condition.

Suppose you run up on a friend who, a few months earlier, had been the victim of a tornado, and lost his home, or worse yet, lost family members. The healing process from that kind of loss is time-consuming. You are concerned about this friend, and in private, you might ask, Where are you? meaning, How are you doing?

Is this what God did with Adam? While Adam was experiencing some emotions he had never experienced, it does not seem that God’s question was about Adam’s psychological well-being.

A Personal Relationship Question?

The Where are you? question is often a personal relationship question. Where are you in relation to your family? Next to God, the most important people in our world are our families. Where are you in relation to your friends? Even the Bible teaches us that friends are important. Ecclesiastes 4:7-12 puts it this way:

Again I saw something meaningless under the sun:

There was a man all alone;

   he had neither son nor brother.

There was no end to his toil,

   yet his eyes were not content with his wealth.

For whom am I toiling, he asked,

   and why am I depriving myself of enjoyment?

This too is meaningless—a miserable business!

Two are better than one,

   because they have a good return for their labor:

If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.

But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up.

Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm.

But how can one keep warm alone?

Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.

A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

Genesis 3 reveals that Adam and Eve’s disobedience resulted in some tension in their relationship. But it does not seem that God is asking Adam where he is in his relationship with his wife, and he cannot be asking about his relationship with his friends for, at this point, Adam has none!

A Theological Question

In my view, the Where are you? question God was asking Adam was a theological question. The word theology means having to do with God. God was basically saying, Adam, where are you in your relationship with God?

God and Adam had always enjoyed a close relationship. They talked often, even to the point that God gave Adam responsibility for naming the animals. There was never any reason to hide. But in chapter three, that relationship was damaged because of Adam and Eve’s bad decisions. Thus comes the question, Where are you?

God’s first words to Adam after the fall have all the marks of grace. The words form a question, rather than a command or an accusation. This question is intended to draw man out rather than drive man out.

In her memoir, The Whisper Test, Mary Ann Bird writes:

I grew up knowing I was different, and I hated it. I was born with a cleft palate, and when I started school, my classmates made it clear to me how I looked to others: a little girl with a misshapen lip, crooked nose, lopsided teeth, and garbled speech. When schoolmates asked, What happened to your lip? I’d tell them I’d fallen and cut it on a piece of glass. Somehow it seemed more acceptable to have suffered an accident than to have been born different. I was convinced that no one outside my family could love me. There was, however, a teacher in the second grade who we all adored—Mrs. Leonard by name. She was short, round, happy—a sparkling lady. Annually we had a hearing test. … Mrs. Leonard gave the test to everyone in the class, and finally it was my turn. I knew from past years that as we stood against the door and covered one ear, the teacher sitting at her desk would whisper something, and we would have to repeat it back—things like The sky is blue or Do you have new shoes? I waited there for those words that God must have put into her mouth, those seven words that changed my life. Mrs. Leonard said, in her whisper, I wish you were my little girl. God says to every person deformed by sin, I wish you were my son or I wish you were my daughter. God has been whispering the same thing since the tragedy in the Garden of Eden. To each of us who have rebelled against God, twisted God’s purpose for our lives and missed the mark, God whispers I wish you were my child, or even, I’m glad you are my child.²

That is what God was saying when he asked Adam and Eve, Where Are You? God was saying, I love you. I care about you. I will always be seeking you. I want you two to be my children.

I read about a man whose car had had some issues. He had to keep refilling the coolant reservoir, assuming that it was leaking. He was not an expert at automobile repair. He did not enjoy automobile repair, preferring rather to get in and drive where he needed to go. As long as his car fulfilled its basic functions, he was satisfied. Over time, the coolant issue got worse and he had to spend more time and money on his car. At first he had to add coolant about once a month, then once every couple of weeks, then once a week. Finally he was adding coolant two times per week. The gauge he used was his air conditioning or heat. When the air conditioner blew out warm air rather than cold, he knew that it was time to add more coolant. But simply adding coolant twice a week turned out only to be a temporary fix, and not a permanent resolution to his problem.

Sometimes we treat our lives in the same way this guy dealt with his car. We have issues that need major attention, but we end up throwing Band-Aids on the problems rather than confronting them and fixing them.

What in your life is slowly getting worse and worse? What are you putting a Band-Aid on rather than actually fixing? How would it feel to devote your full energy toward truly resolving a problem? Where does your energy need to go before your kids are lost, your marriage falls apart,