Questions and Drifting

 The word drifting makes me think of a plank being pulled by the ocean on either side. Similarly like an untethered boat we can be drifted away from Jesus, from His Word and Teaching and from living a Christ like life. The process of drifting is slow and does not happen all at once. The first instance in the Bible which started small but grew really big and affected mankind up to today started with a question, Did God really say...? Similarly today people have many questions concerning the Bible, God, Jesus and the people in the Bible. 
When we are building relationships, we start with questions, and the more we get answers the more our relationship grows and we get to know each other. So how is it when we have questions we would like to ask God, instead of seeking Him for answers or His Word, we drift further and further away from Him? Perhaps it is the source of the answers we seek. When we encounter miracles we turn back and start trying to justify with logic and get drawn to unbelief. 

 

 Photo by Liza Summer: https://www.pexels.com/photo/smiling-black-woman-sitting-near-friend-in-park-6382992/

Photo by Tim Douglas : https://www.pexels.com/photo/cheerful-young-diverse-ladies-laughing-on-street-6567379/In the Book of Mark chapter 6, Jesus encounters resistance in His hometown and He is not able to do many miracles there and yet when He leaves to go to another town, the people bring all their sick to Him for healing, they even trust that just touching His cloak would heal them.
When they had crossed, they came to shore at Genesareth and moored there. As soon as they had disembarked, he was recognized, and they ran off into all the country round, and began bringing the sick after him, beds and all, wherever they heard he was. And wherever he entered villages, or farmsteads, or towns, they used to lay the sick down in the open streets, and beg him to let them touch even the hem of his cloak; and all those who touched him recovered.• Mark 6:53-56

The questions we even ask, are they seeking answers or are they mocking or questioning who God is? You and I know the difference between questions that are seeking answers and questions that are accusatory, take for example the beginning of Mark 6 and the kind of questions people were asking:

Then he left the place, and withdrew to his own country-side, his disciples following him. Here, when the sabbath came, he began teaching in the synagogue, and many were astonished when they heard him; How did he come by all this? they asked. What is the meaning of this wisdom that has been given him, of all these wonderful works that are done by his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon? Do not his sisters live here near us? And they had no confidence in him. Then Jesus said to them, It is only in his own country, in his own home, and among his own kindred, that a prophet goes unhonoured. Nor could he do any wonderful works there, except that he laid his hands on a few who were sick, and cured them; he was astonished at their unbelief. And so he went on round about the villages preaching.Mark 6

The people from Jesus hometown began to cast doubts and wonder how He came to this knowledge. They could not simply have faith and that's the simplest act, even in the atheistic ways, there are parts that require the total belief that God does not exist. Some who go out on this quest, place tests before God to ask why He cannot perform a certain miracle for them so they can have faith in Him. It is lopsided to stand in the side of unbelief and ask God to act so you can believe Him. God is God, He remains God whether you and I believe in Him or not. His ways are higher than ours and when we attempt to assert our human influence over Him to get the outcome of our choice we are failing to recognize His Sovereignty and turning into the Pharisees who asked Him for a sign so they could believe. Coming to Jesus, to faith, to believe in God is not a deliberate and conscious act of our own. God's word tells us that He draws us in using the Holy Spirit and then we can begin the journey of faith with Him. To stand and say that by our own might, our own selves and by any act we came up with we somehow developed conviction and grew faith, is to rob God of His very nature and idolize ourselves, taking His glory for our gain. 

In the quest for truth, some have drifted far off and forgotten at all times we are at war. Imagine being in a war for our minds and beliefs and our very souls. In this war, the enemy is aware of the outcome that would satisfy you. So naturally like a hunter leaves out honey, or a fisherman some bait, the enemy leaves tidbits that he would use to reel you in. Sometimes your, Aha! moment that leads you further from God is the bait the enemy has set for you. The technology we have today doesn't seem to help. We type in a question and get instant answers. Well I will tell you the truth, there are passages of Scripture I read and I cannot understand it and equate it with the God we know and serve. When I encounter such, I go back to God, I pray and I ask Him to help me understand. There are times, He would take months, others days, others He hasn't yet responded and other times He directs me to read a different book to understand the one I am asking about. The Bible has this uncanny habit of repeating itself. Take for example, Isaiah, there are passages where God says He is God who foretells what will happen before it happens and says there is no other God that does that. In John 13, Jesus tells the disciples that He is sharing with them what is going to happen so that when it happens, they may know and learn to believe Him. In John 14, Jesus says, He is in the Father and the Father is in Him. These scriptures let us know Jesus foretold what would happen before it did just as God had stated in Isaiah. When we come across scripture that we do not understand we can ask God and He will reveal it to us. Sometimes even understanding the context, the audience, the time and the place the Word is being spoken will help us understand. 
Secondly, knowing that God is Sovereign and over all will help us understand that God reigns over us His creation and there are things in this life we may never fully comprehend and our nature here would not even be able to comprehend. Take for example God made everything including evil and He uses it for His purposes. 
Lastly, relying on the Holy Spirit to help us understand. The Holy Spirit was given to teach us all things. We can rely on His guidance in our daily walk in faith. Our questions and curiosities can serve to bring us closer to God rather than have us drifting away. Will you trust God with your questions and wait on His timing to answer?