Is It Wrong to Question God in Prayer?

By Thulani Joel Skhosana

The world is full of pain and suffering and many Christians find themselves affected by these realities despite their prayers and faithfulness to God. At times they face disaster after disaster, while non-believers seem to prosper. Despite their good moral conduct, prolonged fasting and even innumerable prayers, they sometimes still find themselves assailed by misfortunes and misery. Thus, they can feel as if God is silent in the face of their humble pleas and as if He is overlooking their righteous behaviour. As a result, they find themselves battling with anger against God and somehow feeling disappointed by Him. Nevertheless, they bury these feelings within themselves for fear of appearing arrogant and disrespectful. They also find themselves feeling guilty for having these feelings, although the reality they find themselves in makes it impossible for them to feel any other way. They are torn within themselves and unsettled in their consciences, but they are afraid of voicing this out to God.
When you, as a Christian, find yourself in such a situation, would it be wrong to face God and question Him? Would it be arrogant and disrespectful to stand boldly before God and be very honest with Him?
This book seeks to deal with this sensitive issue and to help suffering Christians who are angry and disappointed with God to know how to deal with their predicament.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thulani Joel Skhosana
• Release date: Jul 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005736682

Thulani Joel Skhosana

Fr Thulani Joel Skhosana is a priest of the Catholic Church, presently serving as the Academic Dean and Sacred Scripture lecturer at St John Vianney Seminary, in Waterkloof (Pretoria), South Africa. He obtained his Licentiate in Sacred Scripture at the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome, where he studied for 4 years (2013-2017). He was born in Soweto, where he lived the first few years of his life, but later spent his teenage life in Mokopane, Limpopo province. It was there that he developed great passion for art, and dreamt of pursuing acting and script-writing as a career. While still at school, he wrote two plays, in which he participated as an actor, one for the Church youth and the other for his school. He was also involved in Church youth choir as a baritone singer. But the dream of a career in art seemed to disappear as his passion for Priesthood manifested strongly, only to re-surface again during his Seminary training.At the Seminary, he continued to write scripts in which he participated as an actor, and he started composing music. He composed several pieces of music for two Seminary CDs, and several other pieces for three different choirs. He also composed several other musical melodies that were sang during Holy Mass. He enjoyed research and writing assignments, and excelled greatly in this area.While in Rome, he started a skeletal work on what was to develop into his first two publications: "Forgive yes, but how?" and "Is it wrong to question God in prayer?". These two books were a response to his pastoral experience, and aim at addressing some of the struggles that believers face. They were written to address what he perceived as a pastoral need.Fr Thulani enjoys exercising and jogging, which is a substitute for the Karate sport he grew up doing during his secondary school days. His passion for knowledge and reading continues to occupy him, and his dream for writing more books grows every day.

Book preview

Is it wrong to question God in Prayer?

Is it wrong to question

God in Prayer?

For the Suffering Christian

Thulani Joel Skhosana

Copyright © 2021 Thulani Joel Skhosana

Published by Thulani Joel Skhosana Publishing at Smashwords

First edition 2021

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system without permission from the copyright holder.

The Author has made every effort to trace and acknowledge sources/resources/individuals. In the event that any images/information have been incorrectly attributed or credited, the Author will be pleased to rectify these omissions at the earliest opportunity.

Published by Thulani Joel Skhosana using Reach Publishers’ services,

P O Box 1384, Wandsbeck, South Africa, 3631

Edited by Gil Harper for Reach Publishers

Cover designed by Reach Publishers

Website: www.reachpublishers.org

E-mail: [e-mail]

Thulani Joel Skhosana

[e-mail]

Acknowledgement

Dedication

Abbreviation

The Gloomy Side of Our Life

God’s Original Plan for Pain: The Good, the Holy and the Evil Pain

Questioning.What Does it Mean?

The Fear of God. What is it?

The Image of God in the Old and the New Testaments

Christian Religion of Freedom and the Pagan Religions of Slavery

The religion of God versus the religion of man

A Dishonest Prayer: Waste of Time and Energy

Prayer: An Honest and Genuine Communication with God

Old Testament Biblical Figures Who Questioned God

New Testament Biblical Figures Who Questioned God

Honest Prayer and Intimate Relationship with God

Respectful Honesty, not Arrogance

Psalms of Lament: Models of Honest Prayer

Conditions for Honest Prayer

Closing Remarks

Bibliography

Acknowledgement

Unless otherwise stated, all direct scriptural quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, by the Lockman Foundation (2020).

Dedication

I dedicate this book to my maternal great grandmother, Kokwani n’wa-Xirhami (Bernadette Maluleke) who brought me up and helped me to be rooted in my faith and to love the Church. She was a staunch Catholic and deeply prayerful. I will never forget how, every late afternoon, she would disappear into the secret of her room for private prayer, where she poured out her heart to the Lord God. I will also not forget how, after our usual evening prayers, she would sometimes suddenly erupt into long spontaneous prayers, interceding for the world and her entire family. Her deep faith and prayer life helped her through the many nights of pain and suffering she spent, deprived of the peace of sleep on account of sicknesses. In all this, she never ceased to be a Christian and she never stopped pouring her heart out to God in prayer.

May her soul rest in peace

Abbreviations

1 Cor St Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians

1 Jn First Letter of St John

1 Pt First Letter of St Peter

2 Kgs Second Book of Kings

Col St Paul’s Letter to the Colossians

Eph St Paul’s Letter to the Ephesians

Ex Book of Exodus

Gal St Paul’s Letter to the Galatians

Gen Book of Genesis

Heb Letter to the Hebrews

Is Book of Prophet Isaiah

Jas Letter of St James

Jdg Book of Judges

Jer Book of Prophet Jeremiah

Jn Gospel of St John

Jon Book of Jonah

Lam Book of Lamentation

Lk Gospel of St Luke

Mk Gospel of St Mark

Mt Gospel of St Matthew

NAB New American Bible

NASB New American Standard Bible

Neh Book of Prophet Nehemiah

NT New Testament

Num Book of Numbers

OT Old Testament

Phil St Paul’s Letter to the Philippians

Prov Proverbs

Ps Psalm

Pss Psalms

Rev Book of Revelation

Rom St Paul’s Letter to the Romans

Tim St Paul’s Letter to Timothy

vs. verse

vss. verses

1

The Gloomy Side of Our Life

What a beautiful morning it was! It was 3 December 2019 and we, the formation staff¹ of St John Vianney Seminary,² were all looking forward to a teambuilding trip. At the end of every year, the formation staff went on a special trip to relax and end the year on a high note. Generally, we were short staffed. Each of us had to wear at least three hats as a formator, lecturer and head of a particular administrative department. By the end of the year, we were all exhausted and looked forward to some rest, which was never enough.

Though it was a normal day, it was a very special day to us. This time we were heading to Limpopo. We were to be accommodated at Ave Maria Pastoral Centre, near Modjadjiskloof, around 100 kilometres north-eastern side of the city of Polokwane. From there, we would first visit the famous Mapungubwe at the northern edge of Limpopo province, where South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe meet. From the hilltop of Mapungubwe, one clearly sees the Limpopo River that divides South Africa and Botswana, and the Shashi³ River, which divides Botswana and Zimbabwe, feeding into the Limpopo River. After enjoying the historic scenario of the Mapungubwe landscape, we would then head towards the Palace of the Rain-Queen at Ga-Modjadji, near the small town of Tzaneen. The Rain Queens, famous for their supernatural rainmaking powers, are matrilineal queens of Balobedu, the only queendom in South Africa. We would then drive through the winding road of Magoebaskloof mountains, covered by a beautiful array of gum trees. Finally, we would seal the day with a braai at Dibengeni waterfalls.

Our spirits were high. We looked forward to a beautiful summer trip and an adventurous retreat in the heart and the heat of Limpopo province.

After celebrating Holy Mass and having breakfast, we had a planning meeting for 2020, which was followed by lunch. Having enjoyed our lunch, permeated by laughter as we normally cracked jokes and teased each other during meals, we got ready to hit the road. By around 13H00, our two cars, the nine-seater Nissan and the Chevrolet, were at the main northern entrance to the Seminary building, waiting for us. Having packed our bags, the Chevrolet disappeared first onto the N1 highway, while we were left at the nearest petrol station to fill the Nissan with petrol.

The drive on the N1 north was beautiful, and everything was normal and great. We were enjoying snacks and drinks, telling stories, laughing and teasing each other as usual. As we reached the Nyl Toll Plaza at Mokopane, the traffic officers were diverting the traffic, so that we had to detour via Mokopane town, before re-joining the N1 a few kilometres ahead. There was not a single car moving on that N1 road beyond the tollgate. As we continued in our festive mood, we were wondering about the seriousness of a possible car accident that may have caused the entire freeway to be shut down. We surmised that there would have been multiple cars that were involved in the accident. But none of us gave serious thought to that. The mini feast continued in the car as we joined the R101/N11 road, heading towards Mokopane town.

About three minutes or so after the detour, we received a call from one of the four priests who were in the Chevrolet, informing us that they were involved in the car accident. Our hearts were ripped apart; fear and anxiety suddenly filled our car. We were totally dumbfounded. There was a deafening silence in the car. Each of us was pushed out of the festive mood, into a serious contemplation of the reality that suddenly confronted us. Though no one uttered a word, deep within ourselves we knew that the accident was very serious. The empty N1, which is normally flooded with cars, said it all. Nevertheless, no one dared to imagine the worst.

We rushed to Potgietersrus-Voortrekker hospital, where the priest who called us was being admitted. The other three priests were not there. The priest at the said hospital informed us that one priest was rushed to another nearest hospital, which would have been Mokopane hospital in Mahwelereng. As for the other two, he had no idea where they were taken to.

When we enquired how badly the two were injured, his face fell as he said: It doesn’t look good.

He was repeating the same thing he had said over the phone previously, when he broke the news about the accident. After seeing him and talking to him briefly, we rushed to the police station for more information about the two priests.

At the police station, I was directed to one police officer who was at the scene of the accident. Though I retained my calm physically, I could not stop the surge of anxiety in me. After enquiring about the two priests, the police officer concerned placed a temporary car-licence of one of them before me and asked, Who is this? Immediately I knew the answer to what we had gone there to enquire about. But I remained calm and gave him the name of the priest. Then he asked the names of the rest of the priests who were in the car, which I gave. I told him that two of the priests were rushed to hospitals, and I wanted to know about the other two, including the one on the temporary licence. I will not forget his response, which he uttered in Sepedi language in which we were communicating.

"Go padile." Our two brothers were gone.

As I broke the devastating news to the rest of my colleagues, the flickering light of hope finally died, as the darkness of sorrow and grief showed up in their faces. A head-on collision with an NP 200 Nissan bakkie, which broke the road rules by overtaking across three barrier lines, robbed our institution of two good and dedicated priests. Nothing could have prepared us for that 16H00 crash which left the two cars in tatters.

Arriving at the scene, one of the priests was still trapped in the car. It took about two hours to take him out. The other deceased priest had already been taken out. In horror and disbelief, we helplessly saw our brother’s lifeless body crushed in the car. We were shocked; we were shattered; we were heartbroken; we were dumbfounded. That was the end of our trip.

The height of joy in the morning, ended in the depth of sorrow in the afternoon. Our year-long plan for an adventurous outing in Limpopo was permanently shattered in a matter of seconds. We were reminded that we are but human beings, fragile and mortal. These were good, holy and committed priests. Gazing at that horrific scene, as the Jaws of Life pried through the wreckage of the car to salvage the now lifeless body of a man who was one of us about three hours before, no one could sustain any meaningful conversation. We were all pushed into inner reflection. In moments like this, what can one say? Indeed, life is unpredictable; life has a gloomy side to it.

Having said that, let us begin here: Pain and suffering are an inescapable part of our life. This is a fact no one can contest. It is not an exaggeration that, at any given moment in the world, somebody out there is undergoing some form of pain or suffering. Even as you are reading this very book, somebody is helplessly lying in pain in a hospital, someone else is hopelessly mourning their loved ones, while another one is taking medication for depression and others, having lost all hope, are thinking about suicide. What is common among all of them is the reality of pain and suffering. This reality comes in different forms, as will be illustrated below.

Physical, psychological and emotional pain

No normal human being is immune to pain. Our very bodies consist of a fragile skin that is susceptible to both heat and cold, and can be easily pricked and torn by any sharp object. At any given moment, one can stumble and fall, getting their fragile skin bruised. We also get sick, some to the extent of hospitalisation. If we have not yet gotten knocked down by a serious sickness or disease ourselves, we have at least seen people suffering from them to different degrees.

At the time of writing this book, the whole world was under siege because of the Corona Virus (COVID-19) pandemic, which claimed the