What Do You Know?

Pentecost Proper 7

From “Sitting on the Rainbow”

Artwork by Elsa Ingulsrud

Scripture Reference: Job 38:1 – 11

Do any of you have questions that no one has been able to answer? Are there any really tough questions you would like to have answered? If you have one, go ahead and ask it now. I’m not going to try answering the questions, but I’d just like to hear them. (Let children ask their questions.)

(Give some examples of tough questions that you have encountered. My examples follow.) My kids have asked me tough questions, and sometimes I don’t know how to answer them. When my son was about four years old, he asked me, “What makes gravity and what holds it down?” I didn’t know the answer to that one. And after our pet rat, Tutu, died a year and a half ago, my daughter asked me what I thought rat heaven was like. I really didn’t know how to answer that one either.

There are many questions that we can answer. We’ve learned a lot about this world we live in. But do you think there is anyone who can answer every question? We continue to discover more and more about this world. Scientists discover creatures that live way down deep in the ocean and don’t need sunlight to live. People who study the stars and deep space discover new galaxies and places where bright stars are formed. There is already so much to know and to learn, and every day there is even more!

The book of Job in the Old Testament is about a man who had some tough questions, and he wanted answers. Why is there suffering? Why do bad things happen? He got many answers from people who thought they knew. But Job didn’t believe their answers. In the end, Job realized that the real answers had to come from God. God is the one who created the world and the whole universe. Only God has all the answers. Some of our questions will have to wait until we get to heaven, but they will be answered.

Questions are very important. We learn by asking questions. God created us to be curious, to want to know. It’s good to ask “Why?” I hope each of you will ask questions all through your life. Today during the service, think of a really tough question to ask your folks. If they don’t know the answer, they may know someone you could ask or a book you could check. Or you might come up with a question that can’t be answered yet. But keep asking anyway. You’ll learn some amazing things.

Prayer:  Thank you, Creator God, for our incredible world and our curious minds. Help us always to seek out the true answers to our questions.