{"id":2192,"date":"2020-06-12T03:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-12T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shop.honestreflections.net\/?p=2192"},"modified":"2020-05-28T13:57:31","modified_gmt":"2020-05-28T18:57:31","slug":"how-good-are-you-at-answering-hard-questions-about-your-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/2020\/06\/12\/how-good-are-you-at-answering-hard-questions-about-your-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"HOW GOOD ARE YOU AT ANSWERING HARD QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR FAITH?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cWhen the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relationship to the Lord, she came to test Solomon with hard questions.\u201d (1 Kings 10:1 NIV)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Solomon had a reputation.  People saw God\u2019s presence in his life.  People wanted to know what Solomon knew.  The only way to find out what someone else knows is to ask them questions.  As Christ followers, people will question our faith.  Just like God’s presence drew Queen Sheba to Solomon, people will draw to you.  You don\u2019t have to know all the answers.  Nor do you have to act like you do.  All you need to truly know is where to direct them for the answers they are seeking.  Hard questions require honest answers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hard questions require honest answers.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Admitting you don\u2019t know everything is humbling for some people.\u00a0 They feel like they have to have all of the answers.\u00a0 But the truth is, no one has all of the answers.\u00a0 No one except Jesus.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know why a 22 year old bride, a week before her wedding died in a car accident.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know why a friend\u2019s daughter died of cancer at 10 years old.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know why COVID is plaguing our society.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know why.\u00a0 But I do know Jesus does.\u00a0 And I trust Him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recently I posted a short devotional on prayer.  I received a well thought out comment disputing the power of prayer.  The person pointed out how prayer had done nothing to stop the death and heartache in this world over the centuries.  He listed compelling statistics, including the fact a National Day of Prayer was held for our country, yet we\u2019ve still had over 100,000 deaths from COVID.  My heart ached for the pain and suffering he was referring too. But God never promised us a life without pain and suffering:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c<\/em><\/strong>I have told you this, so that you might have peace in your hearts because of me. While you are in the world, you will have to suffer. But cheer up! I have defeated the world.\u201d (<\/em>John 16:33 NIV<\/em><\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t have the answers to the hard questions.  Faith is believing what we cannot see (Hebrews 11:1<\/a>).  In today\u2019s world, anyone can research a topic easily on the internet.  Messages from pastors on every topic imaginable are on YouTube.  Inevitably, one hard truth becomes reality: some questions we\u2019ll never know the answers too until we get to heaven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t let the hard questions scare you.  Understand, some questions don\u2019t have answers.  Hard questions require honest answers.  \u201cI don\u2019t know\u201d is ok to say.  God loves you, even if you don\u2019t know all the answers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question of the Day:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you comfortable saying, \u201cI don\u2019t know?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Further Reading: <\/strong>1 Kings 9:1-10:29 NIV<\/a>, Acts 8:14-40 NIV<\/a>, Psalm 130:1-8 NIV<\/a>, Proverbs 17:2-3 NIV<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhen the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relationship to the Lord, she came to test Solomon with hard questions.\u201d (1 Kings 10:1 NIV) Solomon had a reputation.  People saw God\u2019s presence in his life.  People wanted to know what Solomon knew.  The only way to find out what someone… Continue reading HOW GOOD ARE YOU AT ANSWERING HARD QUESTIONS ABOUT YOUR FAITH?<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","without-featured-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2192"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2197,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2192\/revisions\/2197"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.honestreflections.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}