Questions Without Answers

I like the story of the boy who came to his father and asked, “Dad, who made God?” The father, engrossed in reading the news on his phone responded, “Beats me, son.” The little boy would not be put off. “Dad, why is the earth round?” The dad answered, “I don’t know, son.” The boy played for a minute, then asked, “Dad, is there life on other planets?” The father patiently answered, “Nobody knows the answer to that.” Finally, the boy asked his father, “Dad, do you mind me asking you all these questions?” The father put down his paper, “Why, not at all, son,” he said, “How else are you going to learn?”

The story is funny. And questions are an important part of life, in order to glean knowledge and wisdom. But it is also true that part of what we have to learn is that there are questions to which there are no answers.

“Why did she get sick?”

“I’m a good person, how did this happen to me?”

“What does all this mean?”

As we journey through life we are confronted with limits to what we can know. We come face to face with deep mystery. In the face of such unanswered questions, we have a choice. We can become cynical or bitter. Or, we can have faith.

We can have faith that God is loving and merciful, forgiving, and full of grace. We can have faith that there are things that break God’s heart. We can have faith that even now God is at work to redeem and restore. This is the faith that has stood the test of time. It has been trusted and lived by millions upon millions of people, passed down from generation to generation.

Even with all our human limits, the Apostle Paul leaves us this hope, “For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; one day we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

Let us pray: Eternal God, You are holy, and You are a mystery. And yet, You are loving and as near as our next breath. We can’t always understand why things happen the way they do. We can’t pretend to always have all the answers. Being human, we do ask for insight – but above all, we ask for your grace and peace. Give us the faith and the courage we need to face the hour – trusting that you are with us even now. Amen.