Address—Darren Kulp
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So I mentioned I'd like to talk about questions. I think it would be too broad to call it a topic and possibly broad. And I'm sure that as soon as it said questions, a lot of you had ideas in your mind already. Maybe it would be better to call it a theme, just very narrowly. I want to talk about what we might observe in the Word of God about what would make good, productive, fruitful questions and maybe see some counter examples as well.
So we'll go through some examples, some.
Very quickly, maybe in the in the Word of God.
But.
Perhaps it would be ironic if I had a meeting about questions and didn't allow someone the opportunity to answer a few. So maybe just by way of giving some perspective on the questions in the Word of God, I'll ask a few questions that anyone can shout out the answer to if you feel you know. First of all, how many verses are in our Bible approximately?
Anyone have an idea? 1010 thousand 100,000?
Go ahead.
It's very close to 3033 thousand, and it probably depends on some of the versifications. I have 31,102 in Our King James. By itself, that's not a very important number of those verses, with the exception of a few places in Psalms and Ecclesiastes, I think aren't inspired delineations. But the reason I ask is does anybody know how many verses have questions that we've got?
It's about 2539, but there are some verses with more than one question. So it makes 3297 questions the word of God, which means that there's a question for every 10 verses in the Word of God. And then and they aren't evenly distributed when we talk a little bit about that more later. Anyway, I just think that's notable because I think one of the things I hope we'll touch on tonight is that I don't think that we use questions enough in our speech and I think that we'll be able to observe.
The Word of God and the Word himself made flesh using questions in a way that could be instructive to us. Does anyone want to suggest which book of the Bible would have the most questions? I wouldn't necessarily have guessed this one. Go ahead. That's not bad. Psalms has a lot of questions. My God my God Job is correct. Answer about 329 questions and you can imagine that perhaps you could put over the whole.
Of Job, the question of why, why God? But the chapter with the most questions in it in Job is in Job, and it's actually God asking questions of Job, rhetorical questions. So I'm not going to tell you that rhetorical questions are bad because Jesus used them while he was on earth and God used them.
Significantly in many places, although I do so I don't really want to deal with rhetorical questions tonight, but in any case.
Just by way of contrast.
Again, maybe these seem statistics seem a little unobvious. Why would it be relevant? But there's a book that has there are several books, short books in the Bible that have no questions at all. But there's one book that has eight hundred 859 verses and yet only three questions in it.
And I'll just tell you that book is Leviticus, and I'm not going to go deeply into that, but I just think it's interesting that that might go along with the character of of Leviticus in a direct contrast perhaps from Leviticus being direction and if I could say it reverently, cold hard rules and contrasting that with the Gospels where there's a question every six verses.
And then final question, I just this is just something that I observed. I didn't know this, I didn't know these facts when I.
Started looking and these aren't the things that I hope you remember after tonight if anything, but does anyone know of a book of the Bible that ends with a question mark?
Go ahead. What's that? Oh, sorry, I'm referring to one of the 66 books in the Bible. At least one. Does anyone know of one that ends in a question mark? Go ahead.
Not Revelation, but Jonah does, and interestingly enough, another book of the Bible. Another book of the Bible ends in a question mark.
And it's also about the same city and empire that Jonah was about from a completely opposite side point of view. Jonah's about mercy being shown to net of a Nahum about judgment on Nineveh.
We'll go deeply into those anyway.
Perhaps we can see that at least from those those few facts, there might be things that we haven't considered about questions in the Word of God.
And about questions in our ordinary communication about what questions can be and what we don't realize they are. I'd like to suggest three things to look at tonight. Things that I don't know if I should call them principles, because I'm not arguing that they are.
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Exclusive.
There are certainly other ways to look at questions. I hope that they are useful to us tonight and maybe maybe beyond tonight, but.
I think that in my study of these questions, the most fruitful questions I think have three elements, at least three elements, maybe more, and they're kind of interconnected, but the question being ready to receive even an unexpected answer.
I'm going to attach the word genuine to that just for memory mnemonic. Second thing is that they're aimed at shedding light rather than wounding.
And we'll see a lot of examples. I think of the opposite, and I'm going to use the word artless there. Artless isn't the word we use often, but it basically would mean without guile or deceit. Guile and deceit seem like strong words, but I think we might see examples of how we are artful rather than artless in our speech more often than we think. And then leaving space for answering.
You could have both of the first two things being genuine and artless and still be impatient and not get the benefit of a fruitful question. And we'll use that word patient for that third attribute. So genuine, artless and patient. And I'll come back to those and we'll see examples of some counter examples of of others and and hopefully that will that rubric will help us understand at least.
Some things about questions that we might not have understood before.
I just like to read a few passages.
Quickly first in Luke chapter 20.
These are, to begin with, probably very familiar passages, but maybe we can see them slightly differently on how we have 4 and perhaps not. I'm not claiming to have anything new to to say tonight, but maybe just bringing a few things together. I'll just quickly read through Luke chapter 20, most of it anyway, and just try to notice the questions when we go through a couple of these chapters and then a few verses after that.
And it came to pass, Luke chapter 20, verse one, that on one of those days, as he taught in the excuse me, as he taught the people in the temple and preached the gospel, the chief priests and the scribes came upon him with the elders, and spake unto him, saying, Tell us, by what authority doest thou these things? Or who is he that gave thee this authority? And he answered and said unto them, I will also ask you one thing, and answer me, The abdomen baptism of John was it from heaven?
Or of men, And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven, he will say.
I then believed ye him not but. And if we say of men, all the people will stone us, for they be persuaded that John was a prophet. And they answered that they could not tell whence it was. And Jesus said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things so.
Already we we see that.
This is the first of several instances just in this chapter alone where people thought that they could trap him with a question and they thought they knew all the possible answers to the question and that all of them would result in in trapping him even more specifically. We'll see that in another case in this in this chapter. Let's go down to verse 21, Luke chapter 20, verse 21.
And they asked him, saying, Master, we know that thou sayest, and teach us rightly. Neither accepts thou the person of any, but teach us the way of God truly. Is it lawful for us to give tribute unto Caesar, or no, but to perceive their craftiness? And said unto them, Why tempt ye me, Show me a penny whose image and superscription have it? They answered and said, Caesars. And he said unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which be Caesar's, and unto God the things which be gods. And they could not take hold of his words before the people. And they marvelled at his answer, and held their peace.
So I think in particular that here.
They they had patience. They definitely wanted to get an answer.
But the questioners here lacked heartlessness. They were artful. They they had guile and deceit in their hearts, and they were completely unready to receive an unexpected answer. They thought they had all their bases covered. They could determine the outcome just by setting up a question that was proposed in such a way as to to trap the Lord.
So they they had at best one of those those attributes and.
They ask, then they go on in verse 27 and ask about 77 husbands to one wife. Who's whose wife? Whose whose wife is the woman in the resurrection. And again they're trapped. And I think what's notable in the end of this chapter.
Excuse me is verse 40 and after that they durst not ask him any question at all.
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It does not ask him any question at all because.
They recognize that.
Their questions, fundamentally, were not real questions, they were not genuine, and they were not artless. They wouldn't have had any fear to ask him questions if they had been asking genuine questions to which they actually wanted answers that they didn't expect.
And so there this is, this is a couple of examples of many things that we can do with with questions and hopefully we aren't trying to entrap people.
But you know, I I found examples of of many different things that you you maybe you could boil these down into fewer categories but casting doubt. The first question in the Bible is is Genesis chapter three Yeah. Hath God said you shall not eat every tree of the garden of denial and John Chapter 7 will be maybe just a moment who go with about to kill thee. They definitely were going about to kill him, but.
Thought they could deny it by a question.
Probing, comparing, contrasting, ridiculing. See that again in John Chapter 7. Challenging, showing disbelief, shock of marvel, incredulity. Not all these things are bad. Being marvelling is not bad. But even ending a conversation? The exact opposite of what on its face the question is supposed to do. When pilot asked what is truth, he wasn't looking for an answer. If he waited around for an answer and asked in a genuine and ardolous and patient way, the Lord.
Would have told him, could have told him and would have told him, but it wasn't. He wasn't trying to find an answer to that. So let's just look at a few more questions in John Chapter 7 and then maybe a few specific examples more to the point, but let's look at John, John Chapter 7. John Chapter 7 in the New Testament has the most.
Highest density of versus that have questions in it, have any words in the New Testament just by way of perhaps eliminating that? There are a lot of questions here and there are a lot of questioners.
So we'll just read part of John chapter 10. Sorry, John Chapter 7 starting verse 10. But when his brethren were gone, up then went he up also up onto the feast, not openly, but as it were in secret. Then the Jews sought him at the feast and said, where is he? There was much murmuring among the people concerning him. For some said He is a good man, others say said nay, but he deceiveth the people, albeit no man spake openly of him for fear of the Jews.
So the first question there was in verse 11. Then we'll start coming thick and fast.
Now about the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple and taught, and the Jews marveled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned, He's just answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctor, and whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself, that's because of himself seeketh His own glory. But he that seeketh his glory that sent him, the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in Him. Did not Moses give you the law? And yet none of you keepeth the law. Why go ye about to kill me?
The people answered and said, Thou has the devil who goeth about to kill thee. There's that denial. Jesus answered and said unto them, I have done one work, and ye all marble.
Excuse me, I'll verse 23 and to verse 23. Are you angry at me because I have made a man every whithole on the Sabbath day? There's 25. It is not this he whom they seek to kill. Verse 26 in the middle, do do the rulers know indeed that this is the very Christ?
End of verse 31. When Christ cometh, will he do more miracles than these which this man hath done?
Verse 35 Where will he go that we will shall not find him? Will he go into the dispersed among the Gentiles and teach the Gentile? I think it's notable about that example that the Jews were asking each other what Jesus meant. I was going to be pretty unfruitful.
Asking each other when they didn't have the even the desire.
To to know his history, To know the truth he was presenting.
And then I think I could go through more, but another one that is in particular stood out to me.
At the end there's a sequence here from verse 45, a few that stood out and came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees. And they said unto him, Why have you not brought him yet? The officers answered, Neverman spake like this man. Then answered them, The Philistines, are ye also deceived? Have any of the rulers of the Pharisees believed on him appealing to authority?
But the people who knoweth not the law are cursed. Nicodemus sayeth unto them, he that came to Jesus by night, being one of them, that our law judge any man before I hear him, and know what he saith, what he doeth. Excuse me, They answered, and said unto him, This is ridicule. Art thou also of Galilee?
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Search and look for out of Galilee arises. No prophet and every man went into his own house. So maybe at best that serves as a kind of a survey. We haven't really looked into any of these in particular, but I I think that there are different categories we could we could put these into. Like I mentioned, there was an insult to the Galilee was considered a backwater and.
It would, it would be, you know, we could think of analogues in our day.
To to suggest the kind of ridicule that they were trying to to put on the one who was asking who was making a very fairpoint about their law. They didn't. Their eyes were blinded to that because they couldn't accept the truth there. So ridicule and insult in the end of the chapter, disbelief.
Marvel. There were just a few questions. Maybe verse 11. Where is he?
Verse 45.
Why even that brought him that that were on their face actually seeking to to learn something and so.
What I'm failing, what I'm struggling to to get across?
Is that questions are, perhaps, at least to me, in my mind.
More apt to be.
Artful to have guile, to have deception than perhaps the rest of our speech. Partly because on their face they appear to be doing something good. There are many good things that a question can do, and then maybe we'll get into a few of them, but they appear to be.
Offering the floor to another person or asking for information.
Showing humility and but in many cases they really are not. And I think of Matthew chapter 18, verse four. I hope I'm not resting the scriptures here. I just want to make a slight application here of the verse that's familiar to us about.
Humbling yourself as a little child in Matthew chapter 18.
Starting verse one at the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven?
There's another question, and I think they probably were thinking about which one of them it would be, as we know another place. And he gave an unexpected answer. And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, and said, barely, I say unto you, except you be converted and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as his little child, the same is greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. So I know this isn't I'm not claiming.
But this is the primary application of this verse. But if we think about the humility of children.
Children don't start out using questions the way that I've described adults as as using questions in a guileful way. I don't think I'll be happy to be corrected on anything I say tonight. And certainly our children have sinned natures and and don't have to be taught how to sin, but their questions are, I would say, genuine.
And artless, they're not always patient, but I would say that the vast majority of the time they do actually want to know the answers to their questions. No, it's true that sometimes they.
They might say why 16 times in a row and you don't know how genuine that question is in our house. This is just a side. I'm not. I don't know if this will work even for all of my children, but we ask our children, have our children ask complete sentences which can help sometimes you're asking you're answering the wrong why too. Or sometimes. Anyway, the point I'm trying to make a small point there for children.
That perhaps part of the problem we have as adults.
Is just a problem of pride when we use questions, if we may be in first of all afraid to use questions. We talk about dumb questions as adults. I don't think the children know until they're taught or they learn by observation what a dumb question is because everything's new to them. But as we become older and more prideful.
We start to think that we got to get our egos involved and we think if I, if I.
If I ask that question, I'm going to look foolish. I'm the only one in the room who doesn't know the answer to that question. Or maybe I should have been paying attention more. And maybe some of those things are true. But but if we could reframe that as humble questions, maybe it would be it would be more productive for us to take on that childlike aspect of being willing to learn something.
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And to to to show that we were learning something and.
So I've already said a couple times, I feel that we don't as adults ask enough questions. I certainly don't want to suggest that there isn't a ditch on the other side of the road. There is. We all know that some questions that could.
Theoretically be factual inquiries.
Will never be perceived that way. Questions like what was I supposed to do or why don't you care or what did you expect?
And we, we get those habits of, of both of using questions that aren't genuine, that aren't artless, and then of hearing questions in that way such that we, we talk past each other as spouses.
His brethren, his parents and children, and I don't have a panacea for that, but perhaps by looking at a few more examples more in depth, slightly more in depth in a moment, might see some examples of of how good questions can be can be more fruitful.
So let's turn.
To some specific examples.
For each of the the three points that I'm the headings that I'm trying to to talk about, let me let's just turn briefly to the first Kings chapter 22.
This is a question that.
Excuse me, this is a story that my son Graham really enjoyed acting out many times is the story of Ahab and Jehoshaphat going to war, but more specifically what happens before that. I'll just maybe read through a few verses skipping through a bit, but first Kings chapter 22.
And they continued three years without war between Syria and Israel, and it came to pass in the third year that Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah.
He was a good king, came down to the king of Israel, Ahab, and the king of Israel said unto his servants, Know ye that Ramoth and Gilead is ours, and we be still, and take it not out of the hand of the king of Syria. And he said unto Jehoshaphat, Wilt thou go with me to battle to Reemoth Gilead? Jehoshaphat said to the king of Israel, I am as thou art, my people as thy people, my horses at thy horses as thy horses, and I'm interpolating here.
But perhaps Jehoshaphat realized when those words went out of his mouth that he had gotten things a little bit out of order.
So he said, And Jehoshaphat said unto the king of Israel, Inquire, I pray thee, at the word of the Lord today.
So Jehoshaphat shows ostensibly I desire to ask the both of the Lord of Jehovah. He's saying Jehovah here. We'll notice in a moment something different. Then the king of Israel, Ahab, gathered the prophets together, about 400 men, and said unto them, Shall I go against Ramoth Gilead to battle, or shall I for bear when they said, go up for the Lord? That's Adonai, not Jehovah.
Shall deliver it into the hand of the king.
Well, that sounds like a pretty resounding yes. 400 profits.
But Jehoshaphat knew something was wrong.
Ahab was never a good king. There were no good kings in Israel. 400 prophets doesn't mean anything if they aren't prophets speaking the word of the Lord. So and Jehoshaphat said, is there not here a prophet of the Lord besides verse seven, that we may inquire of him and the king of Israel? I imagine him.
With a heavy sigh said unto Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man, Makaya, the son of Amla, by whom we may inquire of the Lord, But I hate him, for he does not prophecy good concerning me, but evil. And Jehoshaphat said Lot, not the king, say so. Then the king of Israel called an officer, and said, Hasten his or Makaya the son of Imla and the king of Israel. And Jehoshaphat the king of Judas sat each on his throne, having put on their robes and avoid placing the entrance of the gate of Samaria. And all the prophets prophesied before them, though the prophets had already given their word, but now it seems they.
They felt more perhaps that their message was being threatened. Seems that they got out some props to to try to drive the point home. Verse 11 and Zedekiah, the son of excuse me, Kanayana made him horns of iron and he said thus saith the Lord. Now he is using the name of Jehovah. He's realizing maybe that's an important part of this false prophecy. With these shalt thou push the Syrians until thou have consumed them and all the prophets prophesied so saying go up to Ramoth Gilead and prosper, for the Lord shall deliver it into the King's hand and the messenger that was gone to call Micaiah.
Him saying, Behold now the words of the prophets, declare good unto the king with one mouth, Let thy word, I pray thee, be like the word of one of them, and speak that which is good. And Makaya said, As the Lord, as Jehovah liveth, what the Lord saith unto me, that will I speak? So he came to the King, And the king said unto him, Makaya, shall we go against Ramothelia to battle, or shall we for bear? And he answered him, like the other ones, go and prosper, for the Lord shall deliver it into the hand of the king.
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No, I don't claim to be able to expound on this chapter very well. I would be happy to be taught about it.
But it is interesting to me that the king, I'm sure in verse 15, is referring to King Ahab. And the king said unto him, How many times shall I adjourn thee to thou? Tell me nothing but that which is true in the name of the Lord. Somehow King Ahab knew that even though this man was agreeing with his other 400 yes men, that Makaya was actually not telling the truth.
And he said, as Makai, I saw all Israel scattered upon the hills as sheep that have not a shepherd. And the Lord said, They have no master, let them return every man to his house in peace.
And then the king of Israeli Habs says it basically, didn't I tell you? So he only prophesied evil. Now, it's not particularly surprising that Ahab wasn't asking a sincere question here. He did have 400 yes men, 400 prophets that would tell him what he wanted to hear. But what's disappointing, but perhaps is more even a lesson for us, is that Jehoshaphat.
Said he wanted to hear.
The answer? So I would say that Jehoshaphat had patience.
And maybe you could say he was artless. He wasn't using guile or deceit here. He was asking a question to which he really wanted the answer, as long as the answer was what he had already decided to do. Jehoshaphat said to Ahab. When Ahab said, Will you go to battle with me? Joshua said, I am as thou art. We're all one army now let's ask the Lord.
Then they asked 400 men that Joshua knew that wasn't really the word of the Lord coming.
And then the word of the Lord comes, and Micaiah says that he had a vision, and there was a spirit that said there would be a lying, lying spirit prophesying through the 400 men. And what does Jehoshaphat do? Does he change his mind?
He didn't change his mind at all.
Then subsequently, King Ahab says Jehoshaphat, you wear your kingly robes and I'll disguise myself and go into battle on Jehoshaphat, does it?
And it's just, it's only through the the, the Providence of God that Jehoshaphat was saved and and Ahab was killed that day.
Graham, would you like to say how Ahab was killed that day?
Somebody with a bow and arrow.
Drew a drew an arrow at A at a venture and it came down. And of course that arrow was directed by by God himself. But anyway, I'm not.
Really talking about that part of the story, just to point out that Jehoshaphat had perhaps we could say two of the the the properties that I think would make the most fruitful questions. He was.
He was trying to shed light on the on the actual question that needed to be answered. And he was patient. He was very patient.
He asked the question several times, but then he disregarded the answer because it didn't match his preconceptions.
And, and perhaps we we're a victim of that ourselves. We know what it looks like. We know what we should do. We know, we know. In other words, we know that we should be asking the Lord or getting talking to our brethren. And maybe we even do those things go through the motions, but we we are not ready to receive an unexpected answer. We have already predetermined the answer or the set of possible answers that we will accept.
And and something else. The Lord put something else in our way. Maybe we're we're not ready.
To take it and the Lord providentially preserved Jehoshaphat but there are other cases you know maybe with Hezekiah or is that where maybe the question wasn't asked or it was asked in disregarded and there were there were consequences severe consequences for that. Let's take an example we already looked at Luke chapter 20 verse 40. They didn't they just not ask any questions at all they those questioners lacked genuine.
Genuineness. Let's look at.
Matthew chapter 26, verse 62. This is just a brief example that we're all familiar with. Probably all these are familiar to us. Matthew chapter 26, verse 62.
Of course, this is really at the end of.
A series of questions that aren't all we're not going to go through, and that aren't all necessarily in this chapter, but maybe this one will represent them. And the high priest arose and said it to him. Answer as thou nothing. What is it which these witness against thee?
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When Jesus held his peace, and the high priest had answered and said unto him, I jury thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be the Christ, the Son of God.
So.
This man.
Was patient. He, if you can put it that way, he definitely wanted an answer. He was willing to wait for it. He was adjourning for it. You could perhaps, I'm not sure whether we should give him credit for for being genuine in many cases that those who were asking the questions did.
Think that no matter what the answer was, they would have, they would have something to accuse him. But but this was completely aimed at at wounding. There was no semblance of justice here. It was not trying to find the truth, it was trying to find a way to wound. And of course, this is an extreme example.
I struggle to to to connect it well by analogy with our lives, but.
I think that for myself.
I need to catch myself asking questions and say is it is this question?
Intended to to enlighten or is it intended to score points or to to win or to just to to put someone else down and.
Also, on the other side, the listeners have a responsibility. Not I'm not making an analogy to this case, but it's very easy when we have been.
Adults hearing questions that are barbs and and are directed at us as weapons to perceive questions as threats. And this can start when we're children too. Someone very dear to me grew up with quickly achieving the understanding that it was not safe to ask questions.
Of her parents because.
They would the questions would cause more problems than they than they would resolve. And and that's something I I pray that I will not an environment that I will not create for my own children, but that we're all perhaps unwittingly, many of us perhaps are are are subject to not realizing how.
We create an environment of of making questions unsafe. And I think we all realize when it's stated that way that that would be, that would be a terrible thing for relationships, but it can become invisible because if we were used to not having questions as part of the fabric of our conversation, if we're used to.
Dialogues Our dialogues being effectively 2 monologues aimed at each other or past each other.
Then then we won't maybe recognize that the the missing the missing part of the genuine are less patient questions and and how they how they need to be brought back.
I want to look at another an example for patients. I don't have a lot of in all these cases I you know, I'm sure there I would be happy to hear all of your thoughts in the audience about.
Either different ways to look at questions or examples that you've thought of because I I I could certainly have had a lot more, but a positive example in First Samuel chapter 23.
I I don't know.
How to understand this passage? The particular verses in? I'm not pretending to interpret them, but I think there are a few interesting things that just jumped out at me when I read it. Some of you ever heard me?
Talk about it before and maybe, maybe there are a couple of applications that could be made.
But in First Samuel 23.
Just to set the stage, read first first few verses.
Excuse me? And they told David saying.
Behold, the Philistines fight against Keila, and they robbed the threshing floors. Therefore David inquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go and smite those these Philistines? And Lord, send them to David, Go and smite the Philistines, and save Kiala. And David's men said unto him, Behold, we be afraid here in Judah, how much more than if we come to Keala against the armies of the Philistines.
Then David inquired of the Lord yet again. This isn't actually the case that I want to look at first, but that's at the stage. David goes back and asks the Lord again. He got a positive answer the first time with his men were afraid. He went back and asked again. Well, this was a genuine question and he was patient and Lord was patient with him and he was, you know, he was artless, if you want to put that way. He wasn't trying to. This was not a trick question. His life depended on it.
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And the Lord answered him, and said.
Arise, go down to Kiala where I will deliver the Philistines into thine hand. So it was a success. But in verse seven it was told to Saul that David was come to Keila. And Saul said God had delivered him into my hand for you to shut in by entering into a town that hath gates and bars. Verse nine And David knew that Saul secretly practiced mischief against him, and he said to Abayathar the priest, bring Heather the aphod so.
I think the ephod is used. That word is used to refer to mostly usually a vestment or a piece of clothing, but sometimes something that looks like it could be a figure.
In any case, my understanding of it, I'd be happy to be corrected, is that it was a an authorized way to to discern the will of God, which is why it was brought here. But here are the two verses or three verses that I found interesting. Then said David, Oh Lord God of Israel, thy servant has certainly heard that Saul's secret to come to Keila to destroy the city for my sake will the men of Key Isla deliver, deliver me up into his hand. Will Saul come down as thy servant hath heard, O Lord God of Israel.
Tell thy servant, and the Lord said he will come down.
Verse 12.
Then said David, will the men of Kiala deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul? And the Lord said, They will deliver thee up. So if you read over it, you might not even notice. But.
David has to ask the one question twice.
And again, I don't pretend to be able to and give the, you know, the the right interpretation of these verses. But maybe an application, maybe you could look at it in a couple of ways. Maybe the 1St way David, maybe he was too impatient. First he was asking 2 questions and I don't know how the FOD worked. Maybe it gave.
Simple answers. There's some indication, some some suggest that you were looking through stones that anyway.
The point was, maybe David was a little impatient. He asked two, he asked two questions and wasn't patient enough to get an answer to one first. Or you could look at it perhaps another way. He asked two questions, he got an answer to one, and he was patient enough and he needed to answer enough to ask again. And there's no, I don't see any evidence of any.
Any reason for David to have been reprimanded by any prophet of the Lord for this? For this second asking so?
I guess just in the most simple in the simplest way.
It's a it's a reminder to me to be patient, not to give up. Sometimes the Lord, even even here when David had an ephod, which was the way of discerning the mind of the Lord. You didn't get an answer right away. You know, I'm sure sometimes we wish we had enough of I thought that we could consult and.
Or through which we could consult the Lord, the will of the Lord, and we don't.
But asking again here, when we didn't get a clear answer, continue to ask, having that patience, that's a necessary component. You know, we could be genuine. We could be ready to receive an even an unexpected answer. We could be artless, really trying to find the truth, shedding light, not wounding anyone. But we could have missed out. David could have missed out. He could have said well.
The Lord chose not to answer my question.
I'm just going to have to do my best with the information I have available to me. But he went back and asked again. And perhaps just in a small way, that's another one of the lessons for us.
I want to talk just a short while maybe about questions that that God asks or questions that have a divine source.
I mentioned earlier that Jesus used a lot of rhetorical questions. God used a lot of rhetorical questions in Job and and many other books of the Bible.
You know why it might be. I don't pretend to be able to answer this question, but we might ask ourselves the question Why would God ask questions at all? He knows.
What we're thinking, we read in John chapter 2.
Verse 25 I'll just read the verse needed not that any should testify of man for he knew what was in man. Maybe just a couple verses in John chapter 6 we know that when Jesus performed the miracle, the feeding of the 5000.
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He first asked Philip in verse 5. John chapter 6. Verse 5. Whence shall we buy bread that these may eat? Verse 6.
And this he said to prove him, for he himself knew what he would do. Of course we take this for granted that Jesus knew, but it's put here very explicitly. So why does God ask questions?
Well, it says right here why he asked this question in this case, and I'm sure there's a lot more that could be said on that. I just think of the the second question in the Bible in the same chapter where we saw the first question. The first question was a question of of casting doubt from the serpent.
To Eve, the second question, at least as I read it, maybe I missed one, is Where art thou?
And God knew the answers the answer to that question.
Jesus knew the answer, knew what Philip would say. God asked questions to Elijah and 1St Kings. I'll just briefly turn to that First Kings chapter 19.
We know this story, but I think it's worth noting noticing after Elijah had performed the miracle in Mount Carmel and after he'd been given miraculous feeding twice and then in verse 8 went in the strength of that meat, 40 days and 40 nights until horrible amount of God. Then he's asked in verse nine, what doest thou hear, Elijah?
And verse 10 is in the King James I think identical except for one word which is just changing 4 into because same meaning for the verse 14.
God asked the same question twice. What doest thou hear, Elijah? And Elijah doesn't really say what he does here. He gives excuses and he says I'm the only one left. And I'm sure this has been spoken on many times much better than I have. And I'm not trying to make this my main point but.
Just to note that God's questions are of course, exceedingly weighty. And if God asks something twice of us?
I dearly hope that we.
Are walking.
In in the spirit, in the way that we don't answer the same way twice.
There are many other examples of the Lord asking, and maybe in a more more positive light.
In Matthew chapter 20.
Well, no, let's let's look at the one at Mark first. It's just it's just the first verse or two, I guess I will turn to it, but in Mark chapter 10.
We know these.
Mark, Chapter 10.
I'll read.
Verse 46 And they came to Jericho. And as he went out of Jericho with his disciples and a great number of people, blind Bartimaeus the son of Timaeus sat by the highway side begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, Jesus, I was son of Excuse me, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him that he should hold his peace, but he cried the more a great deal, Thou son of David, have mercy on me. And Jesus stood still, and commanded him to be called. And they called the blind man, saying unto him, Be it could good comfort rise, he calleth thee. And he, casting away his garment, rose and came to Jesus.
And here's the question. And Jesus answered and said unto him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?
The blind man said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.
And it seems like everyone.
Would have known the answer to this question, and yet the Lord still asked it of him. And I don't pretend to be able to explain it except that the man showed.
Faith just by stating.
The the exact answer, the factual answer to that question that he was asked. Not a bunch of excuses or or reasons that he was worthy or any other kind of long winded explanation, but that he gave. He gave the answer to what he wanted and the implication was clear that he believed he could receive it.
From the Lord. And and so that passage is also in Luke. It's repeated in Luke chapter 18, verse 41, I think. And the answer was verse 452. And Jesus said unto him, Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately he received his sight, and followed Jesus on the way.
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So.
I don't have a well formed thought to put with this these questions that the Lord asks, but I would just ask us myself mostly.
To remember.
To to stop and think when we see questions in the word of God.
To ask ourselves who's asking? Who's being asked is that question?
A rhetorical device it can be. The Apostle Paul used a lot of rhetorical questions.
First Corinthians Chapter 9 has higher, more questions perverse than any other chapter in the New Testament.
Am I not free? Am I not able to take a wife sister at the wife, etcetera. Those can be useful. I'm but I'm I'm trying to get at as I believe that questions are meant to be in the word of God, a place for the listener and for us, the reader to to stop and think and and not just to read it as.
Just another part of a story and then.
For us in our in our lives.
To remember.
To catch ourselves when we ask questions and to to to listen for opportunities to ask questions because.
Just in closing, I know this has done a bit of.
A rambling, but there are many things that we can do with questions we.
One of the most important, I think is that we we give a gift to the person that we're talking to. The gift of time we give, we yield, we're yielding.
We are.
Showing humility, hopefully you can you can misuse questions of course, as we already seen, we can just asking questions doesn't doesn't give you any new power that you didn't have before if your if your motives are wrong, then you can ask questions that wound even more than statements would but.
I think there's a real power in in them in when we use them to show that we care what what what the other person is trying is thinking about and when we genuinely want to know. And on the on the flip side, if we always use questions.
Or if we always hear questions as used as weapons, there can be such a gulf that gets created. This is a short anecdote. Some of you have heard this, but a few months ago now I was on the Washington DC Metro train.
Coming back to work, I had gone to the Bible Museum in DC with some visitors, so I was alone. I was wearing my work attire. I wear a necktie. I was carrying my newspaper, so I probably looked like I had.
Some extra money to to spare. Sat down on the train and I got on. Two young men next to me asked me.
If I could spare some money, they were. They said they were homeless and just rode the Metro train all day. And so I sit down on my newspaper and turned toward them and said.
What's your story? And I started asking questions, factual questions.
It became very clear almost immediately that their story, they tried to maintain the story. Well, I should say the one person who was talking to me maintained his story and was trying to, to keep it up for a little bit. But it became clear that it was it was not the the truth. And very quickly the other young man who hadn't been speaking actually became angry with his his friend.
Among other things, they warned me in very foul language that they were both.
Intoxicated on some drug and as apparently as some kind of warning, but.
He was, he was afraid that I was an undercover policeman.
And now you could attribute that to paranoia perhaps from, from whatever they were they had taken. But as far as I could tell, the main reason that they thought that I was a policeman was that I was asking them questions. And it could be that in their lives, anybody who asked them factual questions was really.
Trying to either in their minds trying to get them or was bad news for them in some way.
And and that's a, that's a very sad thing for them.
I think that I hope that nobody in this room will ever be in that situation of being like those young men in in such need of real help and yet unable to even recognize the ability. I I, I don't say this in any way to aggrandize myself, but I I am not averse to giving.
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Money even on a metro train to people who need it. But that's why I wanted to start asking them questions first was to find out if they if they were who they said they were and if they needed it and.
If, if in only a small way, maybe we.
In our in our interactions with parents and children as spouses, if we use questions to wound more often than to shed light, if we don't ask genuine questions, artless questions, patient questions, we may be pushing pushing each other apart with questions instead of drawing each other together. And on the other hand, if we are afraid to ask questions.
Then the very presence of a question may itself be so strange in a way, and so unusual that it seems like a threat to us. That's something people off I, I, I use an extreme example and I don't have a good example of of it in our everyday lives. But well, I do have one example. And permit me this. I don't pretend to be a good communicator as a spouse.
But I did one maybe the only thing that I've done.
Well, in my marriage, and maybe I my wife can tell me otherwise, that that doesn't help that much either. But.
I realized that the question when will supper be ready? May be perceived as a threat.
And so I try to ask, what is your timeline for supper?
And I don't know, you can ask her if that actually helps or not, but I just give that as an example because I think that there are many questions that either we avoid asking.
Or that we ask without realizing that that have that have overtones and and I don't pretend to see them all, but but that caused us to withdraw from asking questions because we're afraid to. Anyway, I'm almost to my 59 minutes and I haven't really concluded well, but I'll just turn to a final passage in Job chapter 25. Here is perhaps an example of.
The ultimate need for patience. This man asked what he thought were rhetorical questions.
This is the. This is.
The if you want the statistics, it's the chapter in the Bible with the most questions perverse at one question perverse.
6 verses I'll read Job chapter 25. Then answered Bill Dad the shoe height and said dominion and fear are with him. He maketh peace in his high places. Is there any number of his armies? And upon whom does not his light arise? Clearly rhetorical questions we can answer them but here are the questions he thought rhetorical but had an answer but not for another few 1000 years.
How then can man be justified with God, or how can he be clean? That is born of a woman, Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not. Yeah, the stars are not pure in his sight. How much less man that is a worm. In the son of Man, which is a worm, they'll add the shoe height. Didn't know the answer to those questions. He didn't think there were answers to those questions. But we have.
The wonderful privilege of knowing the answer to those questions and if we had the Echoes of Grace hymn sheet tonight.
In #14 on the hem sheet we'd see a song that is composed entirely of questions. I think we know the first verse of it well enough to sing together. I'll just read it and the and the refrain and then we can close with that.
It's Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb? Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour? Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Let's sing It is the first verse of #90 in the Echoes of Grace if you want to open it up that way.
Have you been to?
I am calling, trust me and his grace against himself. I need to watch in the blood of the land.