Asking Questions, Seeking Answers

Matthew 7:7-8 New International Version (NIV)

7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

It was a foggy Sunday in California as a helicopter took off carrying the lives of nine people on board. The following moments would impact lives around the world. As reports of the crash made their way through the news and social media, people were shocked and devastated by the news of who was lost in the crash. An outpouring of emotion and grief spread through the internet. Reminders to hug your loved ones were posted on feeds and reminders that tomorrow is not promised spread across media platforms.

The death of former NBA star Kobe Bryant, his daughter, and seven others shocked the world. Coverage of the crash and the grief that followed dominated the headlines. What started out as a typical day changed in an instant. Loss is often unexpected and unnerving. One moment you can be sharing a typical morning and in the next moment your life can change forever. 

I watched the coverage and observed how friends of the family members struggled to find the words to describe what had happened, They were left with unanswered questions about the accident and they were also reflective about their relationships.

After my own son’s death, I struggled with the number of questions attacking my brain throughout each moment. I tried to make sense of the randomness of life. I tried to recreate our final moments over and over. I questioned who I was as a father. I questioned choices and decisions. I questioned God’s plan. 

What do we do with all these questions? Ignore them? Block them out? Distract our minds with work or projects? What do you do with these questions?

God is big enough for our questions. Many times in the Bible he tells us to ask and seek. Loss requires us to examine what we know about ourselves and what we believe. If you don’t ask questions, you don’t grow. I may not know why I must face this suffering but I have learned how others have been transformed by suffering, I may not know why he died but I have learned to value the time I have to live.We may not be given all the answers today but each pursuit of the answers draws us down a path leading to God. Ask and seek. Pursue and persist. Ultimately you will find God, the One who holds all the answers.