When I get to Heaven I will Ask…

There are often times in life when we are so dumbfounded by what is happening in our lives that the only response we have is…when I get to heaven I will ask God…WHY,  WHO, WHAT, and WHEN. Here are some questions I plan to ask God when I get to heaven;

• How did you get through seeing your son being sacrificed on a cross? When my son went for surgery I barely made it through that day and we didn’t know whether he could make it or not?
• Why do you let bad things and horrible diseases happen to innocent children?
• Was it absolutely necessary to create bedbugs and other annoying insects
• When did dinosaurs exist in the biblical time frame
• Does space exist and if it does, how big is it? Are there other lifeforms out there?

It’s interesting because we all have questions reserved to ask God when we get to heaven. I used to have way more than the above and I could imagine showing up in heaven and taking out my list of 101 questions and asking God for answers.
We are not, however, the only ones who have questions, Job in the bible had so many questions. He underwent so much suffering he didn’t understand and he needed to figure it out, so he asked God and God answered him.
After being silent God finally speaks to Job out of the whirlwind, however, God does not answer Job’s and his friend’s questions about Job innocence or guilt, instead, he speaks about the created order and shows the difference between what God can do and what humans are able to do.
That’s is definitely not the answer that Job was looking for and he continues to remain in the dark about why he is suffering. And it seems when we have questions for God the answer doesn’t deal directly with the questions we raised. It seems that some questions are unanswerable and sometimes our questions do not have answers because there are mysteries that are beyond human comprehension, such as how to create the world, how to explain suffering. God advises Job to recognize human limits and trust that God will take care of what Job and all of us cannot know or do.

What can we learn from Job’s interrogation of God;

• God is all-wise: God answers Job’s question on who is wise and the answer is that God alone is wise. He demonstrates that He sovereignly controls the whole universe and that He is not unjust and cruel. How do we respond to this truth, trust God because he is supremely wise, just and good.

• God is too small in Job’s eyes: Before God answered him, Job perception of God was he was too docile, too easy, and someone who Job can take to court so he and God can argue their case before a judge. God underscores himself as uniquely and infinitely wise. He is without peer and is the judge, jury, executioner, and standard of justice. How do we respond to this, we stand in awe of God and his unshakable trustworthiness.

• Job is too large in his own eyes; Job sees the world with himself at the center and discredits God’s justice at the expense of his own innocence. When God asks his questions Job is overcome with repentance and humbles himself before God as insignificant, he stops questioning God’s will over his life and submits to God’s sovereignty. How can we respond to this, the same way Job did by repenting of our conceited perspective about God and his sovereignty and justice.

The truth is God is not obligated to answer our questions; God changes the subject when Job asks why he is suffering? God doesn’t answer Job’s question because it is misguided. This is a bitter pill to swallow because we all have questions that we strongly believe only God can answer. God himself is the answer. He is the creator of the whole universe, owns everything, and owes nothing to anyone: we cannot understand His ways.