Why?

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.”
James 1:5

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
Romans 8:28

Many of us do not understand God.

We hear about God and His Son, JesusChrist. We are told the good news that Jesus died for our sins and we can be saved from going to hell if we believe in Him. However we do not want to follow Jesus without being sure we know what we are doing. So we ask many questions, but to our surprise, we rarely get satisfactory answers. An impasse is reached and our relationship with God stalls. Why does this happen?

Our own wisdom is insufficient to understand God.

The Bible makes a distinction between the wisdom of man and the wisdom of God. Man’s wisdom is gained through experience and knowledge and depends on an ability to understand. God’s wisdom is a gift from above and comes through revelation. 1 Corinthians 1:21 shows that we cannot know the things of God using our own wisdom. “For since in the wisdom of God
the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.”

Nicodemus could not understand what it meant to be born again. Jesus said to him, ‘I tell you the truth, unless a man is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’ ‘How can a man be born when he is old?’ Nicodemus asked (John 3:3 – 4). Jesus replies to Nicodemus ‘The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.’ Jesus was
saying to him to trust in God and not to try to work it all out. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding”. (Proverbs 3:5).

God gives and withholds understanding.

God can give to, or take understanding away from anyone. In Luke 10:21 Jesus praises God “because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children”. In His mercy, God sometimes calls out to us. However He is waiting for us to respond to
Him. “If you had responded to my rebuke, I would have poured out my heart to you and made my thoughts known to you” (Proverbs 1:23). Instead of directing our questions to God, we try to work out the answers ourselves
or ask someone else. If we acknowledge God and ask Him then He will answer us. James 1:5 “If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.”

We need to believe in God.

If we refuse to follow God until our questions have been answered, then we are saying we do not trust Him. “This is not good, because without faith it is impossible to please God” (Hebrews 11:6). “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). God is someone we can trust fully. He is a good God and “will lead us in ways of righteousness and peace. The one who trusts in him will never be put to shame”. (Romans 9:33).

What does it all mean?

Curious minds want to know! Why am I here, why are you here, why is anything here? Why did God even put the Earth into motion and plant us on it?

We are born wanting to know why. What was the first word your child learned to use? Why. What was the last word your child used this morning? Why.

We spend our entire lives wanting to know why. That is one reason God promised to give us wisdom if we would only ask.

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.
James 1:5

For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
Proverbs 2:6

We will address many of your questions including:

Prepare For Your Journey In The Wilderness

As we consider Israel’s first days in the wilderness, perhaps we should remind ourselves of where the Hebrew nation is in Exodus 15. They began their journey in the land of Goshen. If you have a map of that area handy, you might want to glance over it as you pinpoint their location. The Red Sea (or Sea of Reeds) is north of the Gulf of Suez. They crossed that sea, then began a south-southeasterly journey toward Mount Sinai. But before they arrived at the mount of God, they reached the wilderness of Shur in the northernmost section of the Sinai Peninsula. That’s where the cloud and fire led Israel into the wilderness, with the shepherd Moses out in front of the flock. It was a vast expanse of desolation stretching south to the wilderness of Etham.

So that’s where the Hebrews were. But why were they there? If God took the people through the Red Sea, couldn’t He take them immediately to the lush land of Canaan? Of course! If He was able to part the waters, and enable them to walk on dry land, and deliver them from the Egyptians, wasn’t He also able to move them swiftly to the borders of milk-and-honey-land? Absolutely! God can do anything. If He can take you and me through our conversion, He can hasten our journey across this earthly desert and swiftly deposit us into heaven. No problem . . . but He doesn’t.

Why does God put us through wilderness experiences before Canaan? For one thing, He wants to test us. That’s why God led Israel into the wilderness, according to Deuteronomy 8:2: “You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.” (Read that again . . . only this time, slowly.)

God puts us in the wilderness to humble us, to test us, to stretch our spiritual muscles. Our earthly wilderness experiences are designed to develop us into men and women of faith. Let’s face it, our spiritual roots grow deep only when the winds around us are strong. Take away the tests, and we become shallow-rooted, spiritual wimps. But bring on the wilderness winds, and it’s remarkable how we grow as our roots dig deeply into faith.

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