I ask God questions all the time...and think about questions I wish I could ask God, questions for which I wish I could get some sort of clear definitive answer.
But our passages this week are not full of questions we pose to God; rather, they are full of questions God poses to us. The Old Testament reading from Job overflows with them. Which of these questions resonate with you? What do you hear in them?
Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Who determined [the earth's] measurements? Or who stretched the line upon it?
On what were [the earth's] bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone when the morning stars sang together and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?
Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, so that a flood of waters may cover you?
Can you send forth lightnings, so that they may go and say to you, 'Here we are'?
Who has put wisdom in the inward parts, or given understanding to the mind?
Who has the wisdom to number the clouds?
Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens, when the dust runs into a mass and the clods cling together?
Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, when they crouch in their dens, or lie in wait in their covert?
Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God, and wander about for lack of food?
God is full of questions in Job--absolutely full of them. But in Mark's Gospel, Jesus has only two questions, both directed at his disciples:
"What is it you want me to do for you?"
"Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?"
So what's the question behind all of these questions?
I guess my question, simple though it might be, is...what might God's questions be for you at this point on your journey, disciple?
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