Beyong Belief Week 2

Main Point

When you doubt what God is doing, it’s okay to ask questions.

[INTRODUCTION]

Last week we saw that Moses had doubts and questions but God still remained committed to him.

Moses' circumstances of being a fugitive for committing murder and having insecurities about his abilities made him wonder if God still wanted him.

How could God use a criminal to convince one of the most powerful leaders in the world that he should release the people of Israel from slavery?

When Moses doubted God's plan, he brought his questions to God, and God responded.

Exodus 6:28–7:7 (CSB)

28 On the day the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, 29 he said to him, “I am the Lord; tell Pharaoh king of Egypt everything I am telling you.”

30 But Moses replied in the Lord’s presence, “Since I am such a poor speaker, how will Pharaoh listen to me?”

1 The Lord answered Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet. 2 You must say whatever I command you; then Aaron your brother must declare it to Pharaoh so that he will let the Israelites go from his land. 3 But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart and multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. 4 Pharaoh will not listen to you, but I will put my hand into Egypt and bring the military divisions of my people the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. 5 The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the Israelites from among them.”

6 So Moses and Aaron did this; they did just as the Lord commanded them. 7 Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three when they spoke to Pharaoh.

Moses asked God, "Why would Pharaoh listen to someone like me?" and God told Moses it was "because I am with you and will show you what to say and do."

In one sense, that's pretty cool. God was still going with Moses. But that answer didn't give Moses many details to work with.

I think I might still feel a little uncertain if I were Moses, especially after God told Moses that no matter what he said, Pharaoh wouldn't listen to him. God promised to work despite all of this.

So, God answered Moses' questions, but the answers opened up more questions.

For example, if Pharaoh didn't listen to Moses, how would he let God's people go free?

Scripture lets us see these moments of people's lives in a way that allows us to resonate with them and know that it's okay to see a big problem and have questions about whether God's plan will succeed.

Scripture makes space for these types of questions. They are expected and welcomed.

[TRANSITION]

The next section of Scripture starts to answer some of Moses' questions, but it's a lot to get through. So instead of going through all of it, here is an overview:

First, God commanded Moses to strike his staff on the Nile River — the primary water source for the Egyptians — and the whole thing turned to red blood.

Then came the frogs. Frogs took over the land, terrorizing the people and leaving quite a mess.

After that came the gnats. These tiny pests were everywhere, yet Pharaoh still wouldn't relent.

Then came the flies. You'd think Pharaoh would give in at this point, but he stood his ground.

Next came the plague on the livestock. All the Egyptians' livestock died, which devastated the city, but Pharaoh still wouldn't let God's people go.

Then, the boils — wounds all over the body. But Pharaoh still refused to free the Israelites.

After this, God sent hail. Giant balls of ice crashed down from the sky. But even still, Pharaoh refused to do what God asked.

Then, the locusts. More bugs infested the city and ate up all the crops. But Pharaoh still wouldn't let the people go.

Next, the city was plunged into darkness. The Egyptians were without light for three days, while the Israelites had plenty of light. Though the world's light had left this region, Pharaoh continued to refuse Moses.

Pharaoh continued to refuse Moses until the tenth, final, and most horrifying plague — the death of every firstborn child in Egypt.

So why did God do all of this?

Well, that's an ongoing conversation, and even brilliant people can't agree on how we're supposed to understand all the story's details.

This story is important because it permits me not to need all the answers all the time. While I pursue God and seek solutions to my complex questions, I can know that:

This story (and stories like it) in Scripture might raise some big questions, and that's okay. For example, what do we make of all the regular people who had their lives upended by the plagues?

The people in this story, like the Israelites, Moses, and the people of Egypt, probably had a lot of questions, too. Even people who follow Jesus and spend their whole lives studying the Bible still have questions about these stories. And that is okay.

[TRANSITION]

Toward the end of the section on the plagues comes one of the most critical moments in the Bible, and while it doesn't answer all our questions, it does normalize having them.

Summarize Exodus 12 or read Exodus 12:24–28

Exodus 12:24–28 (CSB)

24 “Keep this command permanently as a statute for you and your descendants. 25 When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as he promised, you are to observe this ceremony. 26 When your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ 27 you are to reply, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians, and he spared our homes.’ ” So the people knelt low and worshiped. 28 Then the Israelites went and did this; they did just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.

This moment is called the Passover, and it will become a massive celebration for the Israelites, during which they remember God successfully rescuing them from Egypt.

The Passover marked the beginning of a journey that put Egypt behind the Israelites and God's promises ahead of them. Passover initiated a new season in which God's people celebrated how God powerfully protected them and invited them to remember all the amazing things God had done for them.

This raises an interesting spot of tension, built into the story. God's people were oppressed and looking to God for guidance. They had questions about what God was doing, yet God still rescued them. Additionally, there were hard times filled with questions but also moments of celebration.

For generations, this passage and the observation of Passover has and will continue to help God's people remember and celebrate God's faithfulness in times of doubt and questioning. The Exodus story challenges us to see God's love and mercy amid God's judgment of Egypt.

The story's point is that no matter how big and bad the situation you face is, God is at work to make things right.

And I have to admit, it's difficult not to get caught up in the destruction the plagues caused Egypt.

Couldn't God have done it differently, without the destruction?

All of these doubts and questions can be tough to stomach.

And if you are asking these questions, that's okay. God is inviting you to ask them.

[TRANSITION]

If we find questions challenging to stomach, that doesn't mean we shouldn't ask them. Our doubts and questions open our curiosity and motivate us to seek wisdom to discover the answers or to rest in God's sovereignty when we can't find them.

James 1:5 (CSB)

5 Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God—who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly—and it will be given to him.

James, brother of Jesus, wrote that if we want wisdom, we have to ask God for it.

James emphasized asking questions in our faith, especially if we want answers.

Questions help us learn. We don't need to feel guilty for having them.

When we learn to admit our questions openly, we begin to see that we are not the only ones with questions — everyone deals with them. And when we learn to ask and hold space for other people's questions, we become paths to strengthening each other's faith.

If there was anyone who we might feel had a handle on their questions of faith, I imagine it would have been Jesus' brother James.

But we know he had them, too, because he encouraged us to ask questions without fault. So when you have questions, ask! When you doubt, it's okay to ask questions.

[TRANSITION]

What we are seeing is that it is okay to doubt and ask questions.

When we doubt, it simply means that we have had experiences or thoughts that make us uncertain about the things we have been taught or always assumed are true.

Questions are inevitable and a normal part of following Jesus.

Asking questions strengthened my faith, so don't be scared to ask yours.

Know that people have been asking challenging questions about God and Christianity since the beginning of time. It's just part of your faith!

When you find yourself in moments of doubt, ask yourself these four questions:

HOW ARE MY DOUBTS INVITING ME TO BE CURIOUS? It's fair to admit that reading the Bible can be challenging. But even in that challenge, God invites you to wonder, stay curious, and ask questions. The book of Isaiah even says that God's ways and thoughts are higher than ours. The important thing is not to feel guilty for having questions and not letting doubt turn into isolation.

HOW ARE MY QUESTIONS INVITING ME TO GROW? It's important to understand that having questions indicates we are growing. The faith we learned from our family or church is becoming more personal, and as that happens, our questions are an important part of the process. That's good! It means your faith is important to you. You're learning to compare new information with that which you've always held.

WHO CAN I TALK TO ABOUT MY QUESTIONS? Questions and doubts can be unsettling if they are left unsaid. We begin to think we are alone in our questions, and often these questions only grow until they paralyze our faith. You don't have to walk through this experience by yourself. Moses had people like Aaron, his sister Miriam, and his wife Zipporah, to discuss his doubts. Who can you invite into this process with you?

WHAT DOUBTS DO I WANT TO TALK TO GOD ABOUT? Questions lead us on new paths to discovering ways to connect with God. As we learned last week, we saw through God's interactions with Moses that questions and doubts don't make God angry or pull away from us. Rather, they are an invitation. God wants to talk with you about the hard and important stuff. Spending time with God in similar ways is part of how our relationship with God becomes our own.