Dripping Springs Weekly Bulletins

Questions Pleading for Answers Do you remember the questions your children asked in their ‘growing-up’ years? “Why?” and “When?” were in contest with “How?” and “Where?” Yes, children are good at asking for answers to a multitude of questions. They were/are persistent in pursuit of the answers, and that’s as it should be. “How do you expect to learn anything if don’t ask questions?” You’ve heard that, haven’t you? And you also know that you have to learn how to ask questions – that’s something I remember. Sir Francis Bacon faced many questions during his life, some more significant than others. It is told that in a “question-answer” setting he received so many questions that the attending monitor wanted to call a halt to them. Bacon’s response was, “…a prudent question is one half of wisdom.” Yes, both knowledge and wisdom are available to one who seeks answers by asking the appropriate questions. There are plenty of “foolish questions” making the rounds, but some of those may be more important than we think. It was not foolish for the lawyer in Matthew 22 to ask Jesus a question about the “great commandment.” For students of the Bible there are many, many of those very questions that pique our interest. In some of them are found the most important bits of wisdom of all time. Consider the significance of the following: “If a man die, shall he live again?” Job 14:14. Man has pondered this question for ages. It is an obvious question, and the Bible answers with an emphatic “YES”. Yes, man will “live again,” and must stand in judgment before the Lord regarding his life on earth, Matthew 25:14-36. As a result, these other questions will also be very important at that time of God’s Judgment, for heaven and hell are in the balance. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Genesis 4:9. While Cain was not really asking a question, he sought to hide his sin. But Jesus answered in Mark 12:31 as well as Galatians 5:14 and James 2:8, “..thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”   Yes, we have obligations to others. Yes, we really are our brother’s “keeper.” “What is truth?” John 18:38. Pontius Pilate asked Jesus that very question. He was on trial for His life, and He had stated that He had come to planet earth to bear “witness to the truth,” John 18:37. Truth definitely does exist; you can find it in the pages of the Bible. In His prayer to His Father, Jesus said, “...thy word is truth”, John 17:17. Truth is what God says it is, not what man merely wants it to be. Every time you hear a preacher, make sure that his words are not embarrassed by the question, “What is truth?” The answer you receive will reveal much about that person’s attitude about truth. “Buy the truth and sell it not,” Proverbs 23:23. “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” Acts 9:6. The man who asked that question was the last you might have expected to ask it. To that very moment he – that is Saul of Tarsus – had been an ardent enemy of Jesus, even to the point of arresting and executing Jesus’ followers. In Acts 22 he was told, “…arise and be baptized, and washawaythysins.” All of us should ask this question every day, “Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?” We will find the answer in the pages of God’s Book, the Bible. “What is that in thine hand?” Exodus 4:2. This question arose when God told Moses he was to lead God’s people, Israel, out of bondage in Egypt and then lead them to the promised land. Moses could think of lots of reasons why he could not do so, but God showed him that he very definitely could, should and would. He had been herding sheep for forty years, but now he had a more important task before him. And he did it! What skills, what opportunities have you turned away from because you wanted to do something else. You will have in your life many opportunities to do good for others. Like Moses, you must take advantage of every opportunity to serve the Lord and others. It will make a life for you and your family that is the real “good life,” one of value to yourself, to others and to God. Carl Garner